Attention Seeker
by Firebloom
Summary: Roxas wants to get Namine's attention. Only problem is... he doesn't know how. Thus he agrees to let a certain mischievous pyro help him out..... Of course only chaos and misinterpretation can ensue. Namixas.
1. In The Kitchen

**A/N: Hahah, I seriously need to take a break from the Larxels, so I'm cracking an egg of Namixas! Enjoy!**

* * *

Roxas couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something fishy about the whole devoid of spiritual hearts business. Of course he could physically feel; he certainly felt when Axel flicked his forehead, and especially when Xigbar sniped him in his rear. He could understand _that._

What he couldn't understand was why did Xemnas practically preach to them about their not having hearts, when Roxas felt so weird around a certain somebody?

Well, around a certain _Nobody,_ no pun intended.

She was a pretty one: soft blond hair and sapphire blue eyes that sparkled when she was excited about something, however scarce those moments were. She carried herself with humility and peacefulness, much unlike some of the members of Organization XIII. Like maybe Axel. Roxas liked the way she was so quiet and polite, soft-spoken but still able to sometimes make her point across. He noted how she was always willing to try and make peace with everyone else, even members who were angry by nature and brutal by impulse. Like Saix and Larxene.

Roxas remembered a time when he ran into her in the dining area. They had merely exchanged quick greetings, then went on with their respective businesses, whatever they were. But since then he found that he was subconsciously keeping an eye out for her every time he walked through the Castle That Never Was. He recalled the odd sensations in his chest whenever he thought about talking to her. He had even felt paralyzed once. And Larxene and her electricity weren't around to have anything to do with that.

Roxas wondered if, just maybe, Namine was in the dining area again.

* * *

"What're you lookin' for, little man?" Xigbar drawled lazily as he rummaged through the large refrigerator like a raccoon through garbage. 

"Oh, nothing," Roxas replied, briefly cursing the fact that someone other than Namine was here. "Just looking for something to eat."

"Same here, dude," Xigbar remarked, "same here."

"There's nothing good?" a new voice asked. Axel was a ways from Xigbar, on the Freeshooter's other side. The pyro pulled his head from a cupboard. "There's nothing here, either. Well, nothing good, anyway."

"Dude," Xigbar said, closing the fridge door with a dull slam, "that's just like us! We eat all the good stuff all at once, then leave the crappy stuff. So when we want something good to eat again, there isn't anything to eat!"

Axel grunted empathetically. Now noticing Roxas, he acknowledged the boy's presence by saying, "What're _you_ up to, kid?"

"Same thing you guys are," Roxas said, now realizing that he was sort of telling the truth; seeing Axel and Xigbar search for food made him aware of his own empty stomach. "Looking for food."

Axel shrugged, and Xigbar finally said, "That does it! Screw this, I'm going _out_ to eat!"

"Only because you're too lazy to actually go shopping for food," Larxene said, coming up from behind a startled Roxas to dig in the fridge herself. "Or is it because you're too poor?"

Xigbar pretended to flinch. "Dude, that's cold," he said. "And besides,_ I'm_ not going shopping." Quickly, he added, "Axel is!"

The Flurry Of Dancing Flames started. "Wait, wait?"

"Be a good boy and bring us back food!" And with that Xigbar hastily portalled.

"Something tells me you walked into that one," Larxene remarked, still looking in the fridge.

"Something tells me you need to go back and finish your Bitch Salad," Axel retorted playfully, crossing his arms and leaning against the kitchen counter.

Larxene pretended to take offense by gasping and placing her hand over her chest. "It seems to me like _you're_ the one who only eats salad, you stick!"

"I have a high metabolism!" Axel defended, and Roxas laughed.

"Yeah, he's a porker!" Roxas put in, making Larxene giggle and leaving Axel to decide if that remark was a defense or an insult.

The little banter session was interrupted by a soft voice. "Excuse me," it said, and the person Roxas came to look for edged past him to look into the refrigerator.

"Oh, it's Namine," Axel reported unnecessarily.

"No shit, Pluto," Larxene retorted dully, turning to leave. "By the way, Axel," she threw over her shoulder, "don't forget: Xigbar wants those groceries!" With a dismissive wave, she left via portal.

Axel slumped comically before resuming attention to Roxas. "So-- hey, I'm talkin' to you, punk!"

Roxas shook his head, as if reemerging from a daze. "Huh? Sorry, what?"

"Maybe you'd know if you were actually listening," Axel grumped. "Anyway, are you doing anything right now? Maybe we could pick up an ice cream when I'm done."

Roxas glanced quickly at Namine, who was now seated by herself. "Uh... I..."

Axel had followed Roxas's gaze, and when he saw Namine, the pyro put two and two together. His emerald eyes lit up like newborn stars. "Ohhhhh," he purred, "I get it!"

Roxas felt his cheeks flushing. "What...?"

"You got the hots for Namine," Axel stated triumphantly, crossing his arms and putting out his chest. He began, in a very low whisper, to sing, "Roxas and Namine sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S--"

"I _dare_ you to finish that sentence!" Roxas growled, though both knew the bravado was all for naught.

"Technically," Axel grinned lazily, "it wasn't a sentence; it was a song."

"Will you just shut it?" It was Roxas's turn to grump, as he crossed his arms and looked away. "I just wanna get to know her better, is all..."

"_Just_ wanna get to know her?" Axel pressed, the jackal's grin on his lips.

"Shut up," Roxas repeated.

Axel finally held his hands up in surrender, but his grin was even wider. "Fine, fine. But you know, I _may_ be able to help you out. You're lookin' at a real lady's man here. Of course, I may not look like it, but that's just the undercover work for ya. So I don't get smothered and ambushed constantly." Axel pretended to idly rub his chest with his knuckles, a show of cockiness on his part. "I can help you score Namine's attention."

Roxas was tempted. "How?" he asked.

Axel didn't need any more invitations. In fact, his arm was already around Roxas's shoulders. Leaning in on the side of Roxas's face in a conspiratorial manner, the self-appointed lady's man whispered secretly, "Allow the Casanova to help you succeed in love!"

* * *

**A/N: Something tells me Axel forgot about those groceries already... Well, please tell me what you think so far, please! Thanks! This'll be quite a contrast to Larxel, so I wanna know your opinion if you wish to give it.**


	2. Try A Puppy

It was a common joke among the neophytes of Organization XIII: Axel was possessed with either the spirit of a jackal or a coyote. The tricks, the grin, the coy lines... The Flurry Of Dancing Flames wore that very grin now, the play on his lips stretching nicely from ear to ear; his emerald eyes twinkled with mischief. "Now, Roxas," he began, pacing like a teacher in front of Roxas in the boy's room, "what do girls like? Quick! What's the first thing that comes to mind?!"

"Uh! Uh...! Dogs!" Roxas exclaimed, shooting up, index finger in the air as if he just figured out a universal truth.

In other words, Vexen's "Eureka!" pose.

Axel nodded enthusiastically. "Good, good. Chicks like puppies. Well most do, anyway." He clapped his hands together, his grin back again. "Good job, Roxas. All right."

"So... what are we doing?"

Axel chuckled. "Not 'we', as you so readily say. _I'm_ not the one with a crush on Namine; you are." He saw his friend's cheeks flush again. "You're going solo on this mission; I'm here to provide ideas and moral support."

"In other words," Roxas said, hunching his shoulders, "formulas for disaster and the occasional 'What the hell was that?', right?"

Axel pretended to take offense. "Fine!" he huffed. "I guess you don't need MY help! I'll just go about my business like a dejected friend!"

"Aw, c'mon, Axel!" Roxas whined. "Help me out here! I didn't mean it!"

Axel turned back to the boy. "Hm... All right, then. But only because you're my best friend and I pity you."

"Sheesh, thanks..."

* * *

"What's in the box?" the young man asked curiously. 

Roxas hid the cardboard box behind his back. Well, tried to, anyway; it was big, the kind people place free, abandoned puppies or kittens in. "It's a... a... a delivery package Namine asked me to pick up for her." He eyed Demyx to see if the Nocturne bought his story.

Demyx rolled his eyes. "Really, Rox," he said, "I'm not stupid. What's in the box?"

"How should I know?" Roxas asked. "Namine only asked me to pick it up for her."

Demyx still looked incredulous.

So Roxas pointed past the water manipulator. "Look!" the Key Of Destiny exclaimed. "A monkey!"

Demyx didn't even make a twitch to turn around and see the so-called monkey.

"Always worked with Xigbar...," Roxas mumbled.

"Hey, hey, hey!" a new voice called, saving Roxas. "Don't disrupt the kid's mission! He has a package to deliver!"

Roxas took Axel's arrival as a sign to escape the prying Nocturne. He edged past him and portalled away.

Demyx turned to the pyro. "What was that all about?"

Axel sported the jackal grin. "He's delivering a puppy to Namine."

"Um... dude...?"

"What? Oh, right. I know it's genius, Demyx. You don't have to tell me. Namine will notice Roxas for sure."

"No, that's not it--"

"Hold on," Axel held up a hand in front of Demyx's face. "I'm not done explaining the plan! Okay, Roxas will drop off the fur ball in front of Namine's door. He'll knock, then ditch the place. When Namine sees the puppy, she'll be so glad to see it that she'll want to keep it! The next day, Roxas will find Namine and say something like, 'So, do you like your new puppy, Namine?' and then she'll be all 'You gave me that puppy, Roxas? Oh my gawd, I love you so much!'. It'll be so good! Roxas will have his girl's attention!"

"Namine's allergic to dogs."

There was an awkward silence. Then--

"Oh shi-- seriously?!"

* * *

By the time Axel realized Namine's allergy to dogs, Roxas had already banged on the door and zipped through a portal as fast as he could. 

A second later, the door opened, and Namine stepped through. Looking down, upon seeing no one, she noticed the closed cardboard box with holes. Something was rustling inside. Ever the curious girl, Namine opened the box, and pulled out a small brown mutt, floppy ears and chocolate eyes to compliment the fur.

"Oh, um...," Namine stammered. "Uh oh..."

The excited pup began wiggling out of Namine's gentle grip, and the memory witch squeaked. The mutt barked happily and pranced into her lap, for Namine had squatted down when opening the box. Namine tried gently brushing the innocent creature aside, but the little thing had made it up to her face and began licking it furiously.

Soon after, Namine had a horrible sneezing fit, and the dog only yipped some more, thinking she was playing a game. One sneeze was so big even, that it propelled the frail girl backward onto her back. This in turn gave the puppy more leeway to her face.

"Not good, not good!" Namine squeaked, sneezing again. "Uh... bad puppy! Bad! No-no! Not the face!"

* * *

Elsewhere, while Namine was sneezing her nose off, Xigbar was running upside down, sniping Axel. "Dude," Xigbar shouted irritably, "I _told_ you to go get groceries! Where's my food?!" 

Axel ducked, avoiding a sniped bullet that was aimed at his head, probably. "I got sidetracked _helping my_ _friend!" _The pyro yelped as another bullet nearly hit his foot as a warning. "I'll go get them right now! Look-- uh..." Axel quickly looked around. Pointing, he said, "I'll take Demyx and Larxene as my witnesses!"

Said Demyx and Larxene had come to watch the show of making fire dance. Now, the two shook their heads, startled. "Huh?" they said at once.

"Yes!" Axel exclaimed hastily. "Come, come, children! And I'll let you pick out a candy!" He rushed through a portal.

Sighing, Demyx proceeded to go through, but not before muttering, "Who's he talking to? Us or children?"

"If he keeps it up," Larxene growled, flashing her kunai knives, "he won't be _having_ children to talk that way to!"

* * *

**A/N: Can't forget about those groceries, hah. And castration is always fun... well, sometimes, I guess, I'll put that in to sympathize with Axel. Anyway, yes, I made Namine allergic to dogs, tee hee.**


	3. Avoid Pregnancy Jokes

Axel _did_ return with groceries. It's just that a lot of the food was already eaten.

"Don't look at me," Axel explained to a vexed Xigbar. "_Demyx _was the one who ate the most."

The Nocturne started. "Well," he piped up, "it was _Larxene_ who got us kicked out so we couldn't buy more food!" He pointed to the Nymph.

"It was worth it," Larxene stated simply, a smug smile on her lips as she examined her gloved fingers loftily.

Xigbar looked at her. "What'd you do?"

"Well," she answered, "let's just say that the grocery stores need to provide leashes for children from now on."

"Huh?"

Before Larxene could launch into the story, Axel cut in. "She grabbed a kid and hung him off the aisle markers."

Xigbar laughed. "Dude!" he exclaimed to Larxene. "Awesome-ness!" He and the Nymph high-fived after the Freeshooter held up his hand.

Axel took this opportunity to tip-toe away from danger, Demyx silently following suit.

* * *

The next morning Roxas entered the dining room; most of the Organization was already there. Zexion, Xemnas, Saix, and Xaldin were not present, probably going about their own respective businesses. 

Namine was there, alone at a table.

Roxas was just about to cross the dining room to talk to her, when a hand gripped his shoulder.

"Roxas!" Axel hissed enthusiastically. "This is the perfect oppurtunity to ask Namine about the puppy!"

"Oh yeah!" Roxas agreed.

"Wait a sec!" Axel said, obviously thinking. "Here: I'll talk to her first. You follow my lead!" He collected himself, then sauntered over to the little memory witch, Roxas tailing him.

"Hey there, kiddo," Axel said, grinning. "Anything new happen?" He leaned with his hand on the table.

Namine had closed her plain sketchbook upon seeing the two males approaching. Now, her hands entwined together on the cover as she replied nervously, "Um... not really."

"Really?" Axel was a good actor; he raised his eyebrows in almost-genuine surprise. "Because Roxas and I heard barking yesterday. We thought at first it might have been Saix, but the sounds were too sissy to have come from him. It sounded like a puppy, maybe. We thought that maybe you might know something."

Namine twitched. "Well... there was _one_ thing yesterday."

Roxas's heartbeat increased.

"I found a... little puppy at my door. I think it wound up there on accident. But the problem was that I'm allergic to dogs..."

Of course, Axel had forgotten to inform Roxas about this slight problem; groceries had occupied the pyro's time. So now the Key Of Destiny felt his eyes stretch wide. "You're _what?!"_ he exclaimed, loud enough for everyone in the dining room to hear.

The room grew silent, until Larxene stood up. "You're _what,_ Namine? Pregnant? Goddammit, Marluxia! She's a little girl, you sicko!"

The Graceful Assassin, who was sitting next to her, choked on his tea. Larxene grinned hysterically as everyone but Axel, Roxas, and Namine began roaring with laughter at Marluxia. Well, everyone but Roxas and Namine; Axel busted up laughing after two seconds.

Namine's cheeks flushed red, the color appearing deeper due to her pale skin. Quietly, she slipped through a portal, as if she were ashamed. Well, she probably was.

"N-Namine!" Roxas reached into the disappearing portal, but was held back once again by Axel's hand.

The pyro wasn't laughing anymore; instead, his green eyes danced with yet another scheme. "This is the opportune moment, Rox!" he said excitedly. "Now you can do something to cheer her up!"

"But I--" Roxas looked back to where the portal had been.

"Do you _want_ to cheer her up?" Axel pressed persuasively, eyebrows raised.

"Of course I do!" Roxas insisted.

"Then let's get to it!" Axel said as he led the boy to the kitchens.

"Why are we going here?" Roxas asked. "Namine doesn't live in the kitchen!"

"No duh," Axel replied. "If she did I'd ask her to make my food. No, little one," he said condescendingly, but with a humorous and brotherly tone. "We're going to cook today!"

"Wait-- what?" Roxas breathed.

"A batch of cookies for the memory witch!" Axel proposed triumphantly.

* * *

**A/N: I'm hungry now...**

**And God KNOWS how Namine got rid of that puppy... Hee hee, Old Yeller style.**


	4. AXEL Didn't Burn Them

In truth, the kitchen looked like a large bakery, almost.

Roxas poked around the long counters, eyeing the flour that someone had neglected to put away. He also noted the small pile of dirty dishes peeking out from over a sink on his right. Everything else about the kitchen, notably, was clean.

"Okay, Roxas," Axel said as he dug into a cupboard. "What's the first thing you know about baking cookies?"

"Uh... I dunno...," Roxas answered sheepishly.

"Well, that's not going to help us now, is it?" Axel said as he pulled out several ingredients that would help him make the treats. "Well then," he said, grabbing the flour sack, "we'll just have to hope these'll come out okay."

"Wait," Roxas asked warily, pointing at the pyro. "Are you telling me you don't know how to bake, either?"

Axel gave Roxas a look that made the boy feel slightly stupid. "Does _this face_ belong to a _man_ who bakes cookies?" he waved his hand in a circular motion in front of said face.

Roxas didn't know how to answer that; thus, he stayed silent.

Axel took that silence as a concurrence. "Exactly. So we'll do it from scratch with no prehand experience. Sounds more fun, anyway." He snapped his fingers. "Besides, I have some common sense on where to start!"

_NORMAL common sense,_ Roxas wondered, _or AXEL common sense...?_

Nevertheless, Roxas wandered over to his freind, and the boy ended up serving as Axel's assistant.

So far, everything went according to how cookies were supposed to be made. The two got everything mixed where it needed to be, added just the right amount of what it needed, even added a nice pinch of cinnamon, a favorite of Namine's that Axel was keen to catch.

"There we go," Axel muttered proudly, setting the bowl beside the oven. He patted his flour-clothed hands on his thighs. "Now all we need to do is-- _not for you!" _Axel slapped Roxas's creeping hand, which was trying to nab a piece of the mix.

Roxas quickly snatched his hand back, rubbing it. "Ow! You didn't have to do _that!" _He glared playfully at the pyro.

Axel sniffed. "Everyone knows that the _baker_ gets first taste!"

"Oh, _now_ you're a baker?" Roxas grinned, raising an eyebrow challengingly.

"When it benefits me, yes," Axel answered simply before taking a pinch of the mix. After chewing and swallowing the morsel, Axel grinned. "Now _that's _good." He reached forward again with his other hand, but this time Axel intended to get a pawful...

"Not for you!" Roxas same in the same tone Axel had used on him. Only, instead of simply smacking Axel's hand with his own, Roxas used the rolling pin.

The pyromancer yelped, cradling his hurt hand. "You didn't have to do _that!"_ Axel cried.

Roxas grinned. "Ha-HAH!" he cried triumphantly.

Axel sniffed in a _yeah, yeah_ manner of way. Out loud, he said, "Well, for real, this time. Help me get some of the milk from the fridge out there. I'll bet your crush wants some milk, right?"

Roxas blushed, but said, "Yeah, sure. I'll be right there. Just let me stick these on the foil and I'll put 'em in the oven."

Axel grunted in concurrence, leaving to indeed pick up the milk from the dining area. Roxas turned and began spooning the ready mix onto a platter wrapped in foil, as it should be. When he had succeeded in this small task, the boy counted a total of twenty cookies. More than plenty for someone like Namine. Roxas figured that maybe, because of the surplus amount of cookies, he could eat them with her. That way it wouldn't look like he was just watching her eat, since he planned on staying to see if she even liked the baked goods or not.

Then he had an idea. If Namine liked cinnamon, then perhaps she'd like _more_ on her cookies. Roxas figured it was a good idea as he put spoonful after spoonful of the substance onto the cookies.

Good. Now to set the oven. After Roxas put the tray into the oven, he closed the door to the thing and looked at the timers. Well, he'd like to see Namine as soon as possible. But the cookies still had to be baked, so he figured he should set everything to as quick as poosible so they'd be done faster.

Roxas set the timer to an hour, so he wouldn't have to worry about the time; he'd adjust the heat so they'd be done quicker. The Key Of Destiny set the heat to its highest: 600 degrees.

Hey, the Organization had a really good oven.

Roxas smiled proudly to himself at his genius idea. To make the heat kick up faster, Roxas found a box of matches in the nearby drawer. Striking it on the side of the box, Roxas put the lit match under the foil platter after opening the door again.Then he heard the door open from a distance behind him, and he heard Xaldin call out gruffly, "Boy! The pyro wants you right away in the dining area!"

Roxas turned, curious as to what Axel would want with him. Was it that difficult to bring in a light jug of milk? Or did something else happen? Leaving the cookies to bake, Roxas followed Xaldin into the dining hall.

There, Axel was grinning sheepishly at the young boy as Xaldin walked past. "Rox," Axel said steadily, "wanna help your_ bestest_ buddy in all the worlds...?"

Roxas raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "What'd you do...?" Roxas replied slowly.

"Spilled the fridge of its contents."

"You what?!"

"Shaddup and help me clean up!"

* * *

It took roughly fourty-five minutes, but Axel and Roxas managed to clean the place where the fridge had fallen. Roxas caught bits and pieces of Axel's mumbling; something about Larxene, temper, and... Bitch Salad...? 

"There," Roxas sighed, throwing the rag into Axel's open hand. "Sheesh..."

"Thanks," Axel said quietly.

Roxas looked at his friend, smiled, and said, "Hey, who else was gonna help you out?"

Axel grinned.

Suddenly Roxas was reminded of his cookies. "How long have we been cleaning?!" he asked frantically.

Axel raised a red eyebrow. "I'd say almost an hour, maybe...?" He eyed Roxas, concerned. "Why...?"

"I left the oven on!" Roxas shouted, sounding like a forgetful wife who just remembered something important. He fled to the kitchen, just as he heard a loud crash from inside.

"Didn't you set the timer right?!" Axel asked, rushing into the kitchen.

Roxas didn't answer that nonrhetorical question. Also, he almost didn't want to go and see that kitchen...

Oh! He should've stayed outside...

The kitchen was a total mess. Flour that was once again left out covered the floor; egg yolk was spreading a gooey mess; pots and pans had clattered to the floor; wow, what a mess.

Since the two males cannot speak, on account of their jaws hanging open, dumbstruck, here's what had happened: Roxas, first of all, had put _too much_ foil on the platter. The match's fire had caught the bottom, and an actual fire had started in the oven. The oven finally exploded, making the door to the kitchen appliance fly off and knock over a kitchen dresser. This in turn caused a domino effect, since many of the things were put within reach of each other. Well, one could imagine how_ that_ went...

"I say," Axel said, low and slow, "we get the hell outta here before anyone comes and sees."

"Agreed," Roxas gulped.

The two spun around and nearly ran over Namine.

The surprised girl squeaked, jumping back.

"Namine!" Roxas exclaimed, surprised.

"Watch it, Twiggy!" Axel shouted at the same time, bounding past.

Namine was frozen for a split second before recovering herself. She was about to open her mouth to speak, but then looked over Roxas's shoulder. Her jaw dropped at the sight, too.

Roxas was about to take her hand to run away, when a deep voice commanded:

"Clean up this mess."

Roxas looked like he was about to... well, for retrospect's sake:crap his pants. Gulping, he said, "Yes, Superior."

Xemnas narrowed his orange eyes and rumbled, "Namine, too."

"What?!" Roxas exclaimed. "No-No, wait! I'LL do it myself!" He glanced at the confused girl.

"This obviously looks like you AND Namine did this," Xemnas growled, folding his arms across his chest. "Clean this up or you won't be eating anytime soon."

"Okay...," Namine muttered meekly.

Roxas sighed, completely missing the realization that he was going to have some alone time with Namine now.

* * *

**A/N: Hahah, a little clarification on my note at the end of the previous chapter. Namine DID NOT shoot the puppy; it was just a little joke about the Old Yeller thing. Sorry, guys. But hey, Namine isn't the type to go shooting puppies anyway; that's XIGBAR'S job!**


	5. Miscommunication Ahead

"Um... Can you pass me the rags, please?"

Namine silently handed Roxas the bucket that contained the cleaning rags. When she handed it over, she walked over to the kitchen sink and began looking for soap. Roxas's blue gaze followed her regretfully. "You know," Roxas trailed guiltily, "you don't have to clean up, too..."

Namine glanced at him, then went back to the sink of dishes. "No, it's alright," she answered softly. "Xemnas told me to do something, so I see it as a way to earn my keep around here."

"But it wasn't fair," Roxas protested weakly, ignoring the heat in his ears. "You just came into the kitchen for whatever innocent reason, and the next thing you know you're cleaning up a mess you didn't make." Roxas made a mental note to kill Axel for not staying to help him clean now that the boy himself was caught. He sighed at the every-man's-ass-for-himself instinct around here. He continued to wipe a particular spot on the floor to try and get out the sticky flour.

Namine looked at him, slightly intrigued. Her blue eyes studied his crouched form until she realized that she was supposed to be cleaning as well, regardless of what Roxas said. Xemnas's orders, after all.

* * *

Come to think of it, Namine finally realized that Roxas was hardly letting her do any cleaning herself.

The boy seemed to know what task she would try and carry out; he was there in a quiet instant, reaching the mop before she could. He had actually finished cleaning the dishes before she could reach the dish soap later on. Namine tried propping the large cabinets back up, but even she and her frail form had to admit that this was a job for Roxas, him being the only other one here.

He wasn't letting her do _anything_.

"Roxas," she said steadily as the Key Of Destiny swept the kitchen which, after a few drudging hours, was finally almost back to the way it was. "You know, I _am_ able to be of some help."

Roxas glanced at her as he propped up the last of the cabinets. "No, no, no!" he said quickly, meaning that this was his job to do, since Namine had nothing to do with making the disaster in the kitchen.

Namine, however, took it another way. She quietly stamped her foot, and Roxas looked up at her, eyes slightly concerned. "I'm not useless," she said quietly, tightly, before turning on her heel and walking away, dejected and melancholy.

Roxas stood there, confused. In his chest he felt that rising panic as he watched her leaving him. Then, "What'd I say?"

Someone laughed. Roxas knew who it was right away; after all, who else had a female laugh? No, a drunk Marluxia when he's trying to scare you doesn't count, either.

Larxene rounded around a cabinet corner silently, sauntering like a panther toward Roxas, who was the the prey, apparently. "You've got the biggest boy brain I've seen so far," she quipped.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Roxas asked, attempting a glare.

"You dumbass," she spat, and her eyes, glittering with delight, narrowed to slits. "You made her think she was useless and couldn't do anything right!" She smirked, her body language indicating superiority and condescension.

"I didn't mean to!" Roxas protested weakly, only now realizing his mistake as he hunched his shoulders.

"Tsk, tsk." Larxene shook her head in false empathy. "This is why boys like you _always_ start out crappy with women!" she scoffed.

Roxas hung his head, defeated.

"Tell you what, kiddo," Larxene proposed as she wrapped a slim but strong arm around Roxas's shoulders. Looking in on him, she said in a poisonously sweet tone, "Go make it up to her. She's bound to be bawling her eyes out by now."

Roxas looked at the Savage Nymph. "How?" he asked urgently.

"Search me," Larxene laughed. "Go get Axel; he's still in the kitchen."

"He's WHAT?!" Roxas yelled.

Larxene flinched back and rubbed her ears. "I'm right _here_, you little--" She didn't even bother finishing her own sentence; she already slapped Roxas on the side of his head.

* * *

A dazed Roxas stumbled out of the kitchen, spying Axel right away. "I'm gonna kick your face in!" Roxas growled to the pyro as he came up to him.

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Um... yay?"

Roxas heaved a heavy, exasperated sigh. "Look, just help me make things up with Namine, please?"

A shadow of surprise flickered across Axel's features. "Huh? Mind telling me what happened?"

Quietly, Roxas relayed the events in the kitchen.

"What?" Axel breathed, incredulous. "Rox, I stayed out here so you could have some time with Namine and get to know her better. NOT piss her off!"

Roxas felt even more like a silly little boy.

Axel sighed, amused. "But hey, of course I'll help you! I'm your buddy."

Roxas smiled. "Yeah. Besides, who's gonna get you out of jail one of these days if we're not friends?"

Axel grinned. "Who's gonna get _you_ into it?"

* * *

Stepping out of the kitchen, Larxene briefly recalled the conversation she had heard between Namine and Roxas. Oy, Roxas could be so clueless sometimes...

_Funny,_ she mused, a fox's grin curving her lips. _The only thing that men and women achieve true equality in is miscommunication._


	6. Apothecary Shop In Disguise

"Well, Rox," Axel mumbled airily as the pyro wandered the streets, "what haven't we tried yet for Namine?" He cupped his chin thoughtfully and glanced down at his companion beside him. "We've tried the puppy, and God knows what she did with it. We've tried the cookie card, and you screwed them up. I've tried getting you alone with her in the kitchen, and it succeeded, but you got her butt-hurt."

Roxas grumped, "I didn't know..."

Axel sighed at him. "Well, let's think about _now_. We gotta get her something to cheer her up and make things up between you two. Well, whatever there actually _is_ between you two, anyway."

Roxas frowned, but then again, Axel was right. "How about... flowers?"

Axel snapped his fingers. "Roxas," he called encouragingly, "you've done it again with the good ideas! Flowers it is, then!" With that Axel pulled Roxas along until the two males came into a flower shop.

A little detail they missed was that it was also an apothecary shop.

* * *

"These are some weird-ass 'flowers'," Axel mumbled as he eyed a snapping dragon plant.

"What's not to like?" a old man grumbled loudly from behind a clean counter. "Flowers or not, they are all beautiful in their own way."

Axel looked to him. "O...kay. Sure." He turned around again while muttering, "Crazy old guy."

Roxas, meanwhile, was peering at the tulips and azaleas in the far corner of the shop. The Key Of Destiny reached for the red tulips when he heard a crash and an outraged cry from the front of the shop. Roxas rushed to the front of the shop, and skidded to a surprised halt when he saw Axel edging away on the floor, stuck between indignance and frustration. Around the pyro were scattered bits of fragmented pots that had still contained various plants, along with broken medicine bottles. Still standing behind the counter was the vexed old man, who was holding another rock.

"Why'd you throw the frickin' rock at me?!" Axel shouted, scrambling up and glaring.

"I'm not crazy," the old man spat, "and I'm not old!"

"Lemme guess," Axel smirked. "You're not a guy, either?"

For some reason the old man smiled. "Oh, I'm a guy," he hissed. "And I know you're _broke_."

"What?" Axel said, puzzled despite himself. "I'm loaded."

"Turn around; you break it, you buy it!"

Axel turned around and only then took notice of how much he had broken when he had fallen. Due to the hurled rock, of course. "Oh hell no...," Axel breathed, and Roxas could only agree.

* * *

"What are we gonna do with all this?" Roxas asked, pulling the red wagon they had been provided with to carry all that they had bought. "I highly doubt that you and I know what even half of these things do."

"Sheesh," Axel grumped, holding what little cash he had left, "calm down. We'll just dump them off in Marluxia's garden. I'm sure Mr. Flower Petals will like them."

"If you say so," Roxas replied steadily, pulling the wagon along.

* * *

"What in the worlds is all this?" the Gambler questioned as he passed the two in the halls.

"Crap," Axel grumbled.

"It's some very intriguing-looking crap to me," Luxord responded. He sauntered coolly over to the pile of dangerous plants and herbs. "What do you need all this for? You two planning on poisoning someone?"

"No." Roxas was quick to answer, most likely because Axel was about to open his mouth to reply. "It was an accident. Plus we had to comply with that 'you-break-you-buy' rule..."

Luxord grinned then, and chuckled. "Wrong place, wrong time," he rumbled. "What were you doing at a place that sells this anyway?"

"We were going to get some flowers," Roxas mumbled, unable to fight the blush creeping traitorously to his cheeks.

"All this," Luxord said, sweeping his arm across the expanse of plants and herbs, "and I see no flowers of any kind."

Both Axel and Roxas flew to the wagon and, upon closer inspection, realized that there were indeed no flowers. _"Son of a--"_

"Watch your language around the boy, Axel," Luxord scolded humorously.

"Oh please," Axel growled, frustrated. "Larxene says FAR WORSE around him _shamelessly!"_

_--Author's Note--_

**A/N: 'I learned the F word today, mommy!' **

**Something like Axel and Roxas's forgetting to get flowers happened to me a few days ago, actually, and I'm barely realizing it. See, I went to go shopping for a hamburger barbecue, and I'm getting everything we need, no sweat. And then when I got to the car, I realized: crap, I forgot to buy the hamburger meat! **


	7. Pretty Distracting, Pretty Distraction

"I got it!" Axel finally declared triumphantly from his seat on Roxas' chair. "I bet Namine likes kittens! She doodles them all the time!" The pyro nodded enthusiastically at his friend, hoping Namine wasn't allergic to _cats _as well. "A kitten will be the perfect companion for lonely little Namine, right? They're perfect! Except of course, if you're _relationship_ lonely; then you'll need something like a ferret..." Axel began mumbling to himself, possibly on the verge of some great personal discovery.

"Uh... Axel?" Roxas called nervously. "I'm..."

"Not so sure about this one?" Axel guessed. "Don't worry. I've got a plan!"

"That's...," Roxas mumbled, "what worries me..."

Nevertheless, the Key Of Destiny followed the pyro through the portal of darkness.

* * *

"I'm looking for something small," Axel began, eyeing the clerk in a business-like manner. "Y'know, something sturdy, though. A kitten that's small but won't break very easily." Axel said this last part while eyeing Roxas, who was beside him. The boy glared at him while his cheeks burned red.

The male clerk nodded, but caught sight of the clock behind Axel, on the other side of the pet store. "Oh!" he cried jubilantly. "I'm off now! I got a date later with my new girlfriend!" He said this in a rush as he hastily slipped on his jacket. Axel watched, his hands open-palmed at his chest in a fashion that demanded something like 'what is the meaning of this?'. "Sorry!" the man called as he opened the front door. "But the next person will help you in a minute!"

"Why don't you just help me?!" Axel yelled as the guy sped off to his rundown vehicle. "You're not gonna get laid anyway!"

"Excuse me?" a new voice asked. "Sorry he just rushed out on you; he doesn't take this job very seriously."

Axel turned his head back to the desk to face the new clerk. Instantly his expression smoothly transisted to a flirtatious one. "Hello, there," he purred, leaning over the counter to get a closer look at the pretty woman. "Got any cats?"

"Um, lemme see..." The girl stood on her toes to peer across the store over to the cat kennels. Axel didn't mind that she was staring over him one bit; in fact, he was rather enjoying the nice cleavage in his face. Roxas, still beside him, looked at Axel, and wondered how the pyro could feel so confident; the Key Of Destiny would have blushed so hard, his face would have burned.

The woman went back to standing on her feet. "I think we have some kittens on sale," she responded cheerfully.

Axel barely heard her; his eyes were focused on the way her breasts moved when she bounced back to her feet. He didn't miss a beat, though, and his green orbs flicked up to her face, then to the side, then to the other side; the pyro made it seem like he was looking everywhere and not just one particular part... of her. "Yeah?" he said, straightening his form. "Can you help us out with shopping for it? It's going to be a gift for someone who likes cats."

"How thoughtful!" the woman crooned. "Sure, I'll help you." She walked around the counter, and Axel fervently followed her, while Roxas trailed behind the two. Roxas ignored the way Axel was watching the motion of the girl's hips as she walked, and began to think of a way to give Namine the kitten. He certainly didn't want to just leave it in a box like the puppy; besides, he still didn't know what happened to it. Maybe the kitten can be a gift of friendship; sure, put a red ribbon and bow around its neck, then put in on her table. Leave a note on the ribbon that says something like _From a friend_ and take it from there. That just might work.

"Now," the girl said, and Axel coolly placed his hands in his coat pockets, "these are the youngest kittens. Eight weeks old, and they're all male. The other litter here," she pointed to the batch of bundles in the next kennel box, "are composed of three males and two females. Did you want a specific gender?"

"Oh, female, please," Axel said dreamily, eyeing the girl and not the kittens. Roxas rolled his eyes. _She's an airhead!_ the boy thought as the girl responded airily.

"Okay, then. A girl kitten?" The girl smiled, kneeled down, and reached into the kennel box, gently taking out the two females: one black and the other a tabby yellow. "These are our only girls right now," the woman explained, warmly looking at each bundle. She faced the two, who were still standing up.

Before Axel could say another double-meaning, Roxas came in front of the woman, blocking the pyro's view of her cleavage. He looked thoughtfully at each one in equal measure, and gradually his gaze kept returning to the yellow tabby. It would be nice, he figured, for Namine to know a living being that wasn't in black. He looked apologetically at the black kitten, who looked as if it wouldn't care even if it lived in a trash can. No, the black one seemed to be a born-and-bred alley cat. Her sister reminded Roxas of Namine, what with her almost golden fur and blue eyes, her almost petite form and air of gentleness.

"I'll take this one," Roxas finally said, running a finger lightly across the kitten's back.

"Okay," the woman said. "She's rather shy, though," she warned. "But once you get her attention and trust, she's very loving and outgoing."

"Yeah...," Roxas said, thinking of another being in particular who sounded like that.

At the counter again, Roxas insisted to Axel that the boy himself pay for the furry bundle in his hands; he figured it would be much more meaningful if he paid. Axel nodded absently; his attention was elsewhere, of course. Roxas passed the munny over to the woman, who gave the tabby kitten one last stroke before smiling and saying a farewell to her.

Axel leaned over the counter slyly. He put his chin in his palms and said smoothly, "So when does this place close?"

"Oh, in about three hours," came the response.

Axel waggled his eyebrows, and the girl giggled. The pyro's grin widened. "Mind if I hang out here until then? Or can I stay for _after-hours?"_

The girl giggled again as Axel took her hand and kissed it lightly. Ever the Casanova, Axel leaned forward more and whispered something into her ear; she blushed a deep red and giggled. She moved further toward Axel's face as the pyro lightly brushed one of her breasts with a hungry hand.

Roxas had had enough. Holding the kitten to his chest securely, he said loudly, "Axel, I'm gonna tell your girlfriend about this!"

Axel recoiled from the woman sharply with a startled "What?!" to the boy. Before he could say "What girlfriend?" the girl looked to him while gasping, a hand to her chest.

"You have a girlfriend?!" she exclaimed, mortified.

"What?!" Axel exclaimed, confused. "No, I don't!"

"You liar!" she cried. "Get out before I beat your ass!"

Axel glared daggers at Roxas before returning a paranoid look at the now angry woman, who had found a leash with a choker collar attached. Axel sprinted out the door, followed carefully by Roxas.


	8. Carne Asada, Anyone?

"There we go," Roxas mumbled as he gave the kitten a final brushing. "Bathed, fed, and brushed. Now you're presentable." He eyed the kitten, who was sitting on Roxas's grey pillow, staring curiously up at the boy with huge blue eyes. "Hm," Roxas mumbled, "I don't see anything else that needs to be done... "

The kitten yawned.

"Yeah, why don't we take a nap first?" Roxas asked the tabby. "That way you'll be a fresh, fully awake present." Roxas curled into a loose ball , resting his head next to the kitten, who had also curled up. The steady, content purring of the animal made Roxas doze...

* * *

"...xas... Roxas... Hey, Roxas, wake up!"

Roxas's eyes fluttered open wildly, and the boy sprang up. "What, what?!" he asked frantically.

Axel rolled his eyes. "I was going to ask you, where's the kitten?"

"Don't you see it?" Roxas asked irritably, still looking at the pyro. "It's on the... pillow... Uh oh."

A totally vacant pillow.

* * *

"Uh... Cat?" Roxas called. "Kitten? Where are you?" Roxas peeked under his bed, looked in his several dressers, poked through his closet, searched his bathroom, examined his toilet. No kitten.

Axel was assisting as well. he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out for the little animal. "Eh, squeaker! Where'd you go?! Squeaky? You there? Hello, are you anywhere nearby, Tiny? Meatball! Princess? Hey, _carne asada!"_

"Okay," Roxas huffed, exasperated. "We are NOT calling HER _carne asada_!"

Axel shrugged. "I can't believe you lost the kitten!" he exclaimed, eyeing Roxas.

"I didn't mean to!" Roxas shot back, worried. "We were sleeping, and I didn't mean to go to sleep! B-But the purring! And the-the comfortable-ness of my bed! And--"

"And you lost it!"

Roxas grabbed his blond, spiky hair in paranoia. "We gotta find it! She's all alone out here in this castle, with big scary men out who would probably step on her! Or worse! EAT her!"

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Y'know," he started, "the only one most likely to do that is Saix."

This only made Roxas widen his eyes and gasp dramatically. "Saix is gonna eat Namine's kitten before she even gets to see it!" he sped past Axel, who nearly stumbled over, and raced down the hallways, searching for the kitten.

* * *

Axel poked his head into the kitchen. Creeping to his knees, he scouted underneath the tables for the bundle of trouble. All he got was an accidental kick in the face. He reeled back from under the table in pain and alarm. "Ow!" he cried, holding his nose. "Dammit, that hurt!"

Larxene looked at Axel, genuinely surprised. "The hell were you doing underneath the table in the first place?"

"I was, ah..." Axel searched for the proper words. "Looking for something."

Larxene raised a finely arched eyebrow. "Contacts, perhaps?" she asked sarcastically.

"That's right!" Axel replied, pretending to search the floor again. "My contacts! I can't see without my-- hey, wait a minute!" He looked up at Larxene, frowning comically. "You meanie."

Larxene shrugged. "Sarcasm is a beautiful thing; appreciate it."

"I appreciate you telling me if you've seen a kitten running around," Axel retorted.

Larxene didn't miss a beat. "In Marluxia's gardens. Saw it up a tree a while ago."

"Huh?" Axel sighed nervously. "_Please _tell me it's not the tallest one..."

"Predictable, isn't it?"

"Dammit!" Axel groaned, before turning on his heel and calling Roxas's name.

Larxene grinned and rose as well; no way was she going to miss _this._

* * *

"Why's it gotta be the tallest tree?" Roxas moaned as he immediately spotted the tabby, far up in the tree. Honestly, the tabby kitten looked as if it were enjoying itself.

Larxene's voice sounded from behind Roxas and Axel. "Because the higher the tree," she quipped, "the harder the idiots who climb it fall!"

"You're real supportive," Axel grumped.

Larxene smiled devilishly. "And I brought someone to accompany me." She stepped aside, and Roxas's heart skipped a beat when he saw Namine in the taller woman's shadow. Namine, however, was looking up at the kitten.

"Someone should get it down," Namine said worriedly. "It looks really young; it might fall..." Her blue eyes swam with worry.

Roxas didn't know what he was doing, but he immediately piped up, "I'll get it down for you, Namine."

Namine looked at him for the first time, their small argument in the kitchen quite obviously forgotten. "Be careful, then," she said. "Be careful with the kitten."

Axel raised an eyebrow again at Roxas. He knew something about Roxas that the boy himself had probably forgotten, in his haste to impress Namine and get her attention.

Roxas, the Key Of Destiny, was a crappy tree-climber.

* * *


	9. The Human Pooh Bear

Roxas was all pumped up and ready to get that kitten, who shall _not _-in his opinion, anyway- be named Carne Asada. However, as soon as he looked up at that height where the kitten was, he gulped. True, he wasn't afraid of heights; he just could never climb trees that well. Roxas puffed up his chest, full of bravado rather than oxygen, and walked up to the base of the tree.

"If you die," Larxene called, "can I have your room and all its belongings?"

"I think that's what's gonna happen," Axel muttered to her humorously. "Except it's gonna be_ me_ who gets his room!" he finished as an afterthought.

"I honestly don't think so," Larxene countered. Over Namine, she leaned toward Axel. _"You're _probably gonna get Carne Asada up there." She pointed a slim finger up at the kitten, who was looking down at Roxas, blinking her blue eyes at the boy.

"I bet the cat's thinking," Axel laughed, "like _'What the hell are you doing, boy?'_" The pyro chuckled.

Roxas blew out a long breath, thinking on how he was going to get up the tree in the first place. He looked back up, pretending to think. He could hear Larxene this time, voice acting for the kitten.

"_'Are you gonna rescue me or not?'_" The Nymph laughed. Axel picked it up now.

"_'Cuz if you're not'_," Number Eight said, "_'I'm stayin' up here for the birds to take me away and eat me!'_"

Namine turned even more pale than she already naturally was.

"We don't have birds in our world, dumbass," Larxene hissed.

"I know," Axel replied smoothly. "But does _Carne Asada_ know that? I don't think _Roxas _knows that: he's trying to scramble up the tree now. And hell, I don't think _Namine_ knows that right now, either; she's paler than you were when you saw me--"

"Yeah, yeah," Larxen intervened quickly, turning crimson.

Axel grinned devilishly. "Well, you know what?" the Flurry Of Dancing Flames said, raising an eyebrow comically. "That's what you get for not knocking and just barging into my room after I get out of the shower!"

"Don't make me relive it!" Larxene begged, covering her eyes.

"At least you didn't see anything," Axel reassured, knowing he was pricking at her memory.

Larxene shuddered and grimaced as she lifted her face from her hands. Her expression changed however, when she looked ahead. "Oh hey," she said airily, "Roxas got into the tree."

"Huh?"

"No," Larxene said. "I mean he's actually _in_ the tree."

Axel and Namine looked at the tree, and for the first time noticed a large, round hole at the base of the tree, as well as a pair of feet shuffling to get upright. Axel slapped his forehead and groaned when he noticed a low branch that Roxas could have climbed up, on the right side of the tree. Larxene giggled and Namine... well, Namine didn't know _what _to think. She was just watching Roxas climb into the tree to get up it.

The question was, where did the tunnel lead?

"Uh oh...," Roxas muttered as he realized that the tunnel only led to the other side of the tree. What's more, was that Roxas found that he was slightly stuck.

Larxene raised a slim eyebrow and shook her head slowly, staring at the Key Of Destiny. "Re-fickin'-_tard,_" she said, letting the word trail from her lips.

Axel ran a hand through his fire-red hair and blew out a breath, wondering what to do without making Roxas look _too _bad. Finally, he went up and simply grabbed hold of Roxas's feet... and pulled, _really _hard. He heard Roxas grunt loudly as the boy felt bark scrape his skin roughly.

"That hurts!" Roxas protested.

"You got stuck!" Axel countered, pulling harder. "So shaddup and just let me pull you out!"

Larxene sighed and walked over to the two, seeing that no progress was being made. She wrapped her arms around Axel's waist -much to his surprise- and contributed to the tugging.

Now Roxas had _two_ people trying to get him out.

"Jeez!" Axel said, his voice straining with the effort of pulling the boy still. "This is just like when those animals tried getting that obese bear-thing outta that hole after Zexion super glued him there!"

"Yeah well," Larxene replied, her voice the same way as Axel's, "that time... it was actually..._ funny_."

Namine looked at the two older Nobodies, then up at the kitten, who was gazing back at her with blue eyes the same as her own. Namine began to worry even more about the kitten, who was obviously _not _in any danger. She bit her lip as the kitten meowed loudly in happiness at being so high up; Namine thought it was a cry of distress. She walked up and hoisted herself onto the tree easily, and scaled the tree until she could reach the kitten.

Meanwhile, Roxas was close to being pulled out. The boy wiggled in an effort to help the two pull him out faster, but it still seemed as though he were in the same spot as before. He could hear Axel and Larxene arguing.

"What the hell do you feed this kid, Axel?"

"As if I feed him!" he countered. "He takes care of himself! _You're_ the one whose eating habits should be called into question!"

"Excuse me?!"

"Yes!" Axel shouted, and Roxas felt as if they had completely forgotten about him, though they were still pulling. "_You're _the one who eats like a fatass!"

"Do you see me getting into holes that are _obviously_ too small for even _me_? I don't think so! What about you? _You're_ the frickin' opposite! You probably don't even know what food is!"

"Do, too!" Axel said as he pulled harder. "I just have a very high metabolism!"

"Oh, sure!" Larxene said sarcastically as Namine carefully climbed down the tree, the kitten in one hand. "What's your diet, Axel? Tell us! Is it just tictacs and water?"

"God-dammit, Larxene!" Axel roared, and the two Nobodies pulled together again, getting nowhere. Again. "Screw this! I'm burning the damn tree down! Namine's already walking away with the kitten!"

Roxas didn't even hear that last part; he was too preoccupied with the whole burning down the tree idea. He shouted in fear and shot out of Axel's grip on his feet; the Key Of Destiny almost slid out the other side of the hole. It was easy as it was hard getting him out the _other_ end of the tree.

"We could've done_ that_?!" Axel exclaimed.

Larxene only whined, "Does this mean that I don't get his room to make into a torture chamber?"


	10. Every Two Seconds

Roxas sighed heavily and banged his chin on the table, moping. It had been three days since the whole getting stuck in the tree incident, and Roxas was yet to come up with another plan for Namine. Axel appeared to be at his wit's end as well, but maybe Roxas thought that because the pyro had been slinking off elsewhere lately. Where? Roxas did not know, but Axel did come around to lend the boy "emotional" support and encouragements to keep his chin up.

Roxas felt a tapping on his shoulder, and looked up to see his best friend. His green eyes were lit with excitement, and his hair was even more ruffled than was custom for the Flurry Of Dancing Flames. "Okay, I got it this time!" Axel declared proudly. "I've been racking my brain for two hours, and I didn't sleep at all during that time, but now I got the perfect plan!"

Roxas raised a blond eyebrow. "What is it?"

Axel slid down next to the boy and put an arm around Roxas' shoulders. Putting his hand over Roxas' ear and hiding his mouth, Axel whispered, in a conspiratorial manner, into the boy's ear, "Act like a mopey sonuvabitch when you think Namine is around!"

Roxas hadn't expected _that_. Hell, he had thought that Axel's latest plan would involve singing monkeys and bears on unicycles and a drunk Luxord.

But no, that would be too easy.

"Act?" Roxas asked, confused. "Why do you want me to do that?"

Axel rolled his eyes, and Roxas glared at him. "Duh, Rox," Axel said lazily. "You act mopey, she sees you, she'll go up to you and wanna know what's wrong, you just say that it's one of those days--"

"I thought only Larxene had 'one of those days'...?"

"Uh... no, Rox. That was actually a joke between us... But really! Just tell Namine that you haven't been feeling all that great, and she'll be an angel and spend some time with you and try to find out what's wrong! Genius, isn't it?!"

Roxas stared at Axel, at a loss for words. Then, "How do you act mopey?"

Axel slapped his forehead.

* * *

_Just act mopey whenever you hear someone coming_, Axel had said. _Most likely it'll be Namine around the corner!_

Now, Roxas was walking along a white-washed corridor, prepared to run into Namine. Truly, he felt that if he was acting around her, it was almost like he was _lying _to her in some way. But Roxas _did _feel a little down, mainly because he couldn't get Namine's attention. So was it still acting? His boy-brain couldn't take the question very well...

Thankfully, his... _thoughts,_were interrupted by the echoing sounds of footsteps around the corner. Immediately Roxas put on his best mopey face -which was actually pretty good- and slid down the wall, burying his face in his arms.

"What the hell are you doing sitting there and doing nothing?" came a sharp, gruff response.

_That_ was certainly _not _Namine, unless she underwent some sort of puberty. Which was odd, since they don't age...

Roxas didn't dwell on that; his head snapped up, and he gave a start of surprise and flopped on his rear. "S-Sorry, Saix!" he spluttered as he eyed the man's golden eyes and X-scarred face. "Didn't mean to!"

"You've got two seconds to stop babbling befoer I hit you."

"C-Come-- what?!"

"One two."

Saix indeed hit the boy.

"What was that for?!" Roxas yelled as he rubbed his injured head. Boy, was_ that_ going to leave a bruise...

Saix remained calm as he crossed his arms. "Now you've got two seconds to stop looking stupid bfeore I hit you again."

"How the--"

"One two."

Saix hit Roxas _again_.

"Knock it off!" Roxas complained, rubbing his head again.

Saix smirked; he was rather enjoying this. "Now you've got two seconds to stop holding your head."

"Huh?"

"One two."

You can pretty much guess what happened.

Roxas staggered, dazed, as Saix chuckled. "Kingdom Hearts, this is entertaining," the Luna Diviner rumbled. "Now you've got--"

"Don't say it!" Roxas pleaded.

"--two seconds to not interrupt me." Saix hit him again and laughed.

Roxas said no more; in fact, he blacked out.

* * *

Roxas groaned as he awoke, muttering incoherent babbles. His head throbbed, and he wanted to go back to sleep. Only problem was, he couldn't, given the painful throbbing in his head. He heard footsteps coming again, but they were much lighter than that of Saix's own. "Don't let it be Lexaeus," Roxas pleaded to himself, not completely taking in the fact that the footsteps were_ lighter_ this time.

He also heard a light voice. "Roxas?!"

The voice of distress belonged to a female.

And Kingdom Hearts be _damned_if that light, petite voice belonged to Larxene.

Namine crouched down and picked up Roxas' head. "What happened?" she asked, her blue eyes searching his face.

"Mmm-My head," Roxas grumbled painfully. "Saix... two seconds... macarena..."

"I'll go get Zexion to help you!" Namine suggested helpfully, and dropped Roxas' head -which crashed back painfully to the floor- to run through a portal to find the Cloaked Schemer.


	11. Apparently He's A Man Now

Roxas slowly opened his eyes, aware of the bright, artificial light above his face. He must be in the Infirmary; Zexion must be close by. He felt a slender hand place itself on his warm forehead carefully; Roxas smiled warmly to himself, admiring Namine's gentle and caring touch. "Hi, Namine," Roxas murmured, his vision still cloudy.

Instantly the hand recoiled sharply, as if bitten by a snake. "You think I'm Namine?!" came the disbelieving response. "Honestly, I check for your temperature, and you think I'm a girl?!" He threw his hands up in the air, slightly exasperated.

"My bad...," Roxas mumbled, clearly in limbo between being apologetic and embarrassed. "Sorry, Zexion."

Zexion brushed the apology away with an air of hurt pride. "And you wonder why I think you're all morons," he snipped quietly, loud enough for Roxas to hear.

Roxas blushed, but he blinked inquisitively when Zexion handed the boy something under his nose. A soft scent wafted from the liquid substance in the cup, and Roxas looked up, curious as to what it is.

"Medicine," Zexion explained flatly. "Drink it and you'll feel better."

Roxas obeyed--

--and immediately spat it out.

"What the heck is that?!" Roxas demanded, wiping his lip, his blue eyes wide.

Zexion looked as if he wanted to hold back laughter. "Nasty medicine that you just spat on your visitor."

"My-- Oh." Roxas froze mid-sentence and blushed furiously when he saw his visitor.

Namine looked thoroughly alarmed and was trying her best to wipe off as much of the medicine off of her dress. The futile effort went on for a few more seconds, until Roxas jumped up and out of his bed. Of course he stumbled and crashed clumsily to the floor. "Namine," he exclaimed, "I'm SO sorry! I didn't mean to! I didn't see you!" The Key Of Destiny scrambled to get to Namine, but he slipped once again, this time on the rest of the medicine that made it to the floor and not on Namine's white dress.

Zexion huffed in exasperation, his silver-blue eye glittering with amusement nonetheless. He reached down and hoisted Roxas up forcefully by his arm and planted him firmly in front of Namine. "Even _I_ think you should apologize," Zexion said sternly. "Now go apologize and then go... go multiply or something. Just get out of my Infirmary as soon as you can so I don't have to wait on you."

Namine blushed deeply, the red color obvious on her pale cheeks; Roxas stared at Zexion, his mouth agape upon hearing the ludicrous statement. The Cloaked Schemer sauntered away, a smirk on his lips, and Roxas turned back to Namine again, quite embarrassed.

"I am so sorry about that," Roxas said, pointing shyly at Namine's stained dress.

"Oh no, really," Namine tried assuring, "it's fine, Roxas. It was an accident; you didn't mean to do it." The girl looked woefully at her favorite dress, and Roxas caught that look.

"Hey look," Roxas offered, "how about I wash it for you? Then return it to you nice and clean? It'd make me feel a whole lot better if you let me do that..." Roxas gulped nervously, feeling his stomach knot with the fear that he might stumble on his speech, or even stutter. Or maybe even forget what he was going to say...

Namine looked at him, inquisitive as she considered his offer. "Well, if you insist...," she relented softly.

Roxas's eyes lit up. "That's great!" he said enthusiastically. "I'll do it right now, even!" When Namine peered at him curiously, he hastily added, "I-I mean like, y'know... Kinda gimme your dress after you change into something else already... y'know?" Roxas chuckled weakly, scratching the back of his head.

This seemed to put Namine at ease. "Okay then, Roxas," she said, smiling gently at him. "Would you like it if I come meet you by the laundry rooms in about half an hour? That way you can take your... ah, medicine and get a little rest in."

"Great idea," Roxas agreed readily. "Thanks for your considerations, Namine." He flashed a big grin at the girl, and Namine giggled, her hand automatically going to her mouth.

* * *

Roxas rose from his bed from the quick catnap; he had taken the leftover medicine, and was now ready to head on over to see Namine, though he still had about ten minutes to kill. He turned his head to the entrance of the Infirmary upon hearing footsteps echoing down the outside halls. The doors open widely, and Axel stepped through with exaggerated regality. Larxene and Luxord were at his heels.

"We came as soon as we heard," Axel declared as he approached his best friend. Axel snickered before asking, unnecessarily, "Did you die?"

Roxas grinned. "I did, but then Saix scared me to life."

Axel chuckled as Luxord and Larxene came on either side of Roxas' occupied bed. "So when will you be let out, lad?" the Gambler Of Fate asked, flipping through a deck of cards on the dresser in front of him.

"Actually," Roxas responded, "Zexion wants me out as soon as possible because I'm not seriously injured or anything. I was just going to see Namine--"

"You're going to see Namine?" Larxene interrupted. "You finally cracked a date with her, am I right?" She winked, enjoying the sight of Roxas squirming at the question.

"N-No," he stammered. "I was just going to meet her by the laundry rooms..."

Larxene's eyes lit up. "Oh-ho-ho!" she laughed. "Axel! _Roxas isn't going to be a boy anymore!"_

The two stood up in front of each other and, grasping hands, shouted together jubilantly: _"He's gonna be a MAN!"_

"What are you two talking about--" Roxas' mouth was gently covered with one of Luxord's gloved hands. "Mmppft?"

Luxord shook his head, his clear blue eyes twinkling with amusement. "It's best you don't grasp what those two are talking about," the Gambler reassured, taking his hand off the boy's mouth now.

"But all I'm going to do is wash her dress!" Roxas protested.

Larxene's head snapped to Roxas' direction. "Seriously?" she asked, incredulous. "Holy crap, Axel, it's totally different! Namine has Roxas as her _man-slave!" _She clapped her hands together. _"He's not a man,"_ she corrected herself, _"he's a bitch!"_

Roxas' mouth fell open again as his cheeks and ears burned. "No, I'm not!" he yelped. "I'm washing her dress because I got it dirty!"

Axel's face took on the scientifically unexplainable expression known only as 'Did-you-do-what-I-think-you-did-with-her?' Perhaps better known as 'WTF?'.

"Wh... What...?" Roxas asked, wary. "Why are you looking at me like that for...?"

Larxene put her hand to her forehead slowly. "I take that last part back," she said to Axel. "He's a man."

"I'm only fourteen!"

"Then you're quite the young man, aren't you?" Larxene retorted playfully.

"Okay, you know what?" Roxas finally said. "I gotta go now! Namine's gonna be waiting for me, and I'm probably gonna be late because of you guys!" He kicked himself off the bed, to which he somehow slipped again. Scrambling back up, he pretended that he didn't just trip, and walked through a portal.

Of course, before the vortex swallowed him up, he heard Larxene and Axel's parting words:

_"No glove, no love!"_

* * *

A/N: Man, I really had to squeeze this in; I really didn't want to get lazy with this at all. But hey, track season's over for the school year, so I might be able to get chapters in faster. Until the next chapter, stay tuned.

**P.S. Yes, Namine still has the kitten, more popularly known as Carne Asada, as Axel will argue otherwise.**


	12. Pay Attention In the Laundry Room

Roxas hurried to the laundry room, hoping he wasn't too late. But wait; was he too early? The boy shook his head to clear his mind of such trivial worries, knowing they'd just make him nervous. He was just washing a dress, right? But wait; what if he ruined the dress in the wash? Oh boy, what would Namine wear then? Roxas tried shaking his head again, but then he thought: what if he bleached it on accident? Wait, it was already white...

He stopped his train of nonsense when he saw Namine waiting outside the entrance for him, wearing a large grey T-shirt that came to the top of her knees; her dress was in a plastic bag that she was holding.

"Namine!" Roxas called, quickening his pace with a smile on his face. "Glad you're here already; I can wash your dress for you so you can have it back sooner!"

Namine smiled at him upon seeing his enthusiasm. She handed the eager boy the bag, to which he took it readily. "I really appreciate this, Roxas," she said softly.

"You're very welcome," Roxas replied, still smiling even though his ears might as well be on fire. "I was the one who got your dress dirty in the first place; you don't have to wash it." He said, "I'll give it to you myself after I wash it!"

Namine nodded as Roxas hurried into the laundry room. Soon after, a portal materialized, and Larxene stepped through. "Well, well," the Nymph said lazily, looking at the door, "it seems Roxas is doing laundry duty, hm?"

"Oh," Namine said shyly, "not really, he's just--"

"Yeah, yeah," Larxene cut off, "I know the whole story." She waved her hand in front of her face to emphasize her indifference. "But that's not why I came here."

"What do you need?" Namine asked.

"I want my damn shirt back."

* * *

Roxas hummed to himself happily as he went over to a washing machine, planning on what he would say to Namine when he returned her dress. He already had it figured out: he would return her dress, then say that she would look very pretty in it -as she always did- and that maybe he could take her somewhere some time. It was so perfect!

Roxas still had his dazed grin on as he absently put the dress in a washing machine while pouring in the bleach and slamming the lid back down. He sat on the top of the machine to wait.

But boy, a certain member wasn't going to be happy when they find out that Roxas had put a white dress _with bleach_ in all their load of black clothing.

* * *

**A/N: Oh God, I hang my head in SHAME at the shortness of the chapter! Forgive me, this is honestly not common in me, and I am sincerely sorry, because the wait between this and the last chapter was rather long...**


	13. Axel Will Tell On You

Roxas hummed to himself, bored, as he sat on top of the washing machine, his legs kicking against the thing. The Key Of Destiny even forgot what he was humming, he was that bored. The young boy sighed, and let his thoughts wander to wherever it wanted. He'd probably been here for about an hour, just waiting for the load to finish.

Roxas heard the door open, and the boy strained his hearing for the footsteps. They were coming toward him, and Roxas could spy a spark of red hair from the rows of washing and drying machines. "Hello, Axel," Roxas said cautiously as the red-head revealed himself.

Axel raised an eyebrow. "What?" he asked flatly.

"What do you mean?" Roxas asked, confused.

"You never say 'hello', Rox," Axel stated, as if this were the simplest thing in all the worlds. "You usually say 'hi' or 'hey' or something."

Roxas decided to play along, since that was what he assumed Axel was doing. "And I can't change my greetings every now and then?"

"Well, I'm just saying," Axel began, scratching the back of his head, "it's not your usual greeting, so I thought something was wrong with you or something."

"So if Demyx says 'greetings', there's something wrong with him?" Roxas asked, smirking. "Or if Zexion says 'super-duper', there's something wrong with him? Does the same thing apply if Larxene doesn't say anything vulgar in a whole day?"

"Well," Axel began, "if Demyx said 'greetings', it'd be because we were about to scandal a foreigner in public. If Zexion said 'super-duper', he probably found some happy pills on accident. And if Larxene doesn't say anything vulgar in a whole day, it means she's plotting to store it all in, so when someone makes her mad, all that contained anger and vulgarity can explode on her victim and leave them crying for their squeaky toy."

Roxas only stared at his best friend, unprepared for the fact that Axel readily knew the answers to those nonrhetorical questions. "Right...," was all he could say.

Axel merely shrugged. "Just sayin'," he replied airily. "Now get off the washing machine."

"Why?" Roxas asked, shifting his weight to firmly plant himself on the washing machine.

"Because that washer stopped," Axel stated, "and my laundry's in there."

Roxas froze, letting Axel hoist him off easily. "What's up with you all of a sudden?" Axel asked, nonchalant, as he opened the lid to the washing machine. Instantly, he slammed it down, completely silent with his back to Roxas.

"Axel...?" Roxas asked tentatively, reaching out gingerly to tap on the pyro's shoulder.

Quietly, Axel asked, "Why would you bleach my extra coat, Rox? What'd I do to you?"

"No, no!" Roxas answered frantically. "I didn't know your clothes were in there!"

"That's why you use you eyes to look!" Axel exclaimed, whirling around to stare at Roxas, who looked quite helpless. "Dude, laundry rule number one: NEVER put bleach with any other color but_ white!_ Got it memorized?!"

"I'm really sorry!" Roxas apologized quickly, putting his hands out in front of himself.

Suddenly Axel relaxed. "That's fine," he said passively. "I'll just have to get back at you somehow." He put his hand on Roxas' back and led the boy out of the doorway, but not before stuffing Namine's dress into the dryer. Now outside the laundry rooms, Axel winked mischievously at Roxas before walking off. However, when Axel was halfway down the hall, the pyro whirled around to Roxas, who was still standing where he left him. Cupping his mouth to amplify his voice, Axel shouted,_ "I'm gonna tell Namine you like her!" _With that Axel indeed sped off.

"What?!" Roxas exclaimed, flushed. "No, don't do that! Anything but that! Axel!" The Key Of Destiny took off after the pyro, but Axel had longer legs and more energy; he was soon putting more distance between him and the boy. "No fair!" Roxas shouted. "I'm sorry for bleaching your clothes! I'll make you all of your meals for a week!"

Over his shoulder, Axel responded, "Sounds great! You can make all my meals for a week!"

"Okay, then!" Roxas agreed, still running.

"But I'm still telling, because you didn't say that you'd make my meals for a week_ if_ I didn't tell Namine!"

"Wait- what?!"

"I'm telling!"

_"No!"_

Axel rounded a corner and ran through a portal, while Roxas was still running. Roxas skidded to a stop just as the last wisps of darkness evaporated into nothingness. "Aw, c'mon, Axel!" Roxas whined. "No portals; that's cheating!" The Key Of Destiny looked to and fro as he searched for any sign of his friend, but to no avail. Gulping, he portalled as well, seeing no other alternative.

* * *

Roxas stepped nervously through the portal and was now staring at Namine's door. The young boy figured that if Namine was going to find out that he liked her, it'd best come from Roxas himself; not Axel, the best friend. Holding the doorknob, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pushed the door open.

Axel reeled back with a cry of pain, holding a hand to his forehead. _"Geez, watch where you're opening that goddamn door, you mother_-- Oh hi, Roxas." The pyro had just finished talking to Namine, and was about to take his leave when Roxas opened the door rather fast, hitting Axel on the forehead.

"...Hi," was all Roxas could say. Then, nervously, he asked, "Did you say anything?"

Axel shrugged. "Depends on what you mean by 'anything'."

"What'd you say?!" Roxas demanded, seizing Axel's coat collar. "What'd you SAY?"

"Cool it, kiddo," Axel reassured. "I only told her that you've been stalking her--"

Roxas loosened his grip, horrified.

"--taking photos of her without her clothes on--"

Roxas went pale.

"--watching her through a secret vent while she's taking a shower--"

Roxas began trembling.

"--and smelling her undergarments."

Roxas staggered, looking up at Axel with a stunned and priceless expression.

"Nah, I'm just kiddin' you, Roxas!" Axel laughed, patting Roxas' head of spiky hair.

Roxas heaved a heavy, loud sigh of relief.

"But you do have a date with her tonight."

Roxas almost fainted. "Wh-What?!" he spluttered. A date? With Namine?! How could it be?! Oh, wait. That was easy: he was looking at the cursed pyro right now. "What did you _do?"_ Roxas whispered fiercely. "What did you _say?"_

Axel shrugged. "I just told her that Roxas would like to take Namine somewhere to hang out later, and she kindly said that she would. I told her that you wanted to take her to Twilight Town for some ice cream, and she said that it sounded nice." He gave Roxas two thumbs up, eyebrows wagging. "Congratulations, kiddo," Axel said mischievously. "You got yourself a date thanks to your bestest buddy in all the worlds! You meet her in about three hours when you return her dress!"

Roxas punched Axel in the chest roughly.

* * *

Roxas fidgeted in front of Namine's door three hours later, feeling her dress in the fresh plastic bag. He gulped nervously as he recalled his plan for the visit to Twilight Town. Roxas hoped to successfully take her for a walk around Twilight Town, then head on over to the ice cream shop to pick up their treat. Maybe they could eat them on the clock tower and stare out into the sunset. Sunset Hill was a consideration, too, for later... maybe Namine would like it there...

Roxas barely registered that he was knocking on Namine's door until she actually opened the door, and Roxas stopped short of knocking on her head. "Oh, hi, Namine," Roxas said shyly, quickly trying to cover up the fact that he had, well... almost knocked his hand on her forehead. That wouldn't be a very good start.

Namine smiled pleasantly in another long shirt, this time borrowed from Axel. "Hello, Roxas."

Roxas smiled gingerly. Handing her the plastic bag, he said lightly, "I don't have flowers, but I got you your dress." He gave a small chuckle.

Namine giggled softly, and Roxas felt his chest swell like a hot air balloon. Taking a step back after Namine took the bag, he said, "I'll wait out here so you can get ready."

"Okay," Namine answered, closing the door quietly.

Meanwhile, around the corner farther down the hallway, three heads were poking around to spy on the lone boy.

"Damn," Larxene hissed, "I was hoping something awkward would happen."

Axel nudged her shoulder, to get better situated from his spot underneath her standing form. The crouched pyro mumbled humorously, "But then things would've ended quicker then, huh?"

Larxene grunted quietly.

Demyx looked at the two. "Are you two _hoping_ he screws this up?" he asked nervously.

"Personally," Axel answered, "I'm not. I actually hope things go well for him. I'll be there to pick up the pieces in case things go bad." He thrust his thumb up at Larxene. "Don't know about _her_, though."

Larxene grinned devilishly. Suddenly she nudged Axel roughly. "Shut up, shut up!," she huffed quietly. "Namine just came out!"

"Alright," Axel purred, his eyes sparkling. "It's show time. And we are the spectators."

"Let's go," Larxene ordered, as she and Axel went through a portal of their own, Demyx trailing behind.


	14. Acrophobia

Roxas stepped through the portal, holding his hand out for Namine as she stepped through. The young boy helped the memory witch through the rest of the portal with ease, and Namine nodded to him, smiling softly. Roxas let go of Namine's hand to motion toward the street closest to them. "That place has some great ice cream," Roxas said hopefully, praying that Namine was in the mood for ice cream as he pointed out the ice cream shop in the middle of the plaza ahead of them.

Namine nodded and smiled. "I love ice cream," she replied. "Wanna go there?"

"Sure," the boy answered enthusiastically, and led the girl by her hand.

As soon as the two were out of eyesight and earshot, the fire escape ladder they were under rattled, and a young man crashed down and onto the ground. Demyx spat out imaginary dirt, shaking his head. Looking up, he whined, "Why did it have to be ME who goes first?"

"Because you were on the bottom," came the reply, as Axel leapt down to land on his feet. "Hurry up, Demyx," the pyro urged. "We gotta keep up with Roxas in case anything screws up."

"Easy for _you_ to say," Demyx retorted. Scrambling up and dusting himself off, he was unprepared for the sudden load that dumped itself on his back, making him crash back down. _"Larxene!"_ Demyx whined. "Did you _have_ to do that?"

"Probably not," Larxene answered airily, picking herself up. "But it was hard to resist." She sauntered over to Axel and waited for the Nocturne to get back up and join the two. "Now we can spy on the brats," the Savage Nymph declared. "Where'd they say they were going to?" she asked Axel.

But Axel apparently hadn't heard her; he was staring at something in the plaza ahead. Larxene and Demyx followed his gaze to see a flock of young women looking at a map on a wall that gave directions throughout the town. Demyx rolled his eyes, and Larxene frowned at the fact that her question was ignored over strangers. "I _asked_," Larxene repeated tightly, "where'd they say they were going?" When she got no response, Demyx gulped and slunk away around corner, already catching an idea of the consequences Axel had in store.

Indeed, as he slumped along a brick wall, his face went humorously blank as he heard a loud pop of electricity from Larxene and a surprised outcry of startled pain from Axel.

* * *

"Two for the lovely friends?" The old woman smiled benignly as she handed Roxas and Namine the ice cream they had paid for. "You two enjoy those now," she said as she went to cater to another set of people for their order.

Roxas smiled as he took that first lick of his sea-salt ice cream. An tingle of sweet salt crept onto his tongue to mingle with the tangy sweetness of the frozen treat. He watched Namine's reaction and was warmly pleased when he saw her eyes light up with delight. "How's your ice cream?" he asked.

"It's different," Namine said with polite enthusiasm. "I've never had anything like it!"

Roxas was dumbfounded. "You mean you've never had sea-salt ice cream?" he asked, appalled that Namine has been missing out on such a wondrous delicacy.

Namine shook her head and continued eating her treat. "I never really get out of the Castle much," she confessed. "So I don't know a lot of things out here."

"In that case," Roxas said, taking a large swipe of ice cream with his tongue, "I'll show you a few things that you can't see at our world."

Namine smiled, her blue eyes warm and open. "I'd love that," she said.

Roxas smiled as well, and the two enjoyed the rest of their ice cream in chit-chat, learning more about each other with each question. Roxas learned that she enjoyed learning new things; that she was incredibly shy; that she had a taste for soft music; she loved chocolate; she loved thinking about playing with children; she had an appreciation for art, of course. Namine learned that he didn't particularly enjoy sports; he was teaching himself how to skateboard; he was usually nervous around her; he loved sweet foods and treats; he hated sour items; he was hardly the book-worm person.

A good half hour had passed, in which the two had long since finished their second ice cream. Now they were walking along a street on their way to the clock tower over the train station. "I still don't know what view is better," Roxas said as they made their way along. "The tower's view, or the view on Sunset Hill. Either way, the sunsets in Twilight Town are breath-taking."

Namine listened with fascination. "Sounds really beautiful," she awed, coming in sight of the skyscraping clock tower. She gulped nervously, but didn't want to disappoint Roxas now that they had come all this way. She realized that she was barely keeping pace with Roxas now, and she picked up her speed as they wound their way up the tower from the inside; Roxas used the door on the side to enter the structure.

Finally coming out to the top, Roxas breathed in deeply as Namine slowly came out. He eyed her timid form as she gazed out into the multi-colored soft sky. "Nice, isn't it?" he asked quietly. "the sunset is frozen here," he said. "Just like how the night is frozen in the World That Never Was."

Namine nodded, clinging to every word as if she were clinging to the speaker himself. She also tried not to imagine how high up they must be.

Why did she have to be afraid of heights? Why?

* * *

Axel took the lead as he climbed yet another ladder up the tower, Larxene and Demyx in tow behind him. "Now, we're not going to disturb them," ha said patronizingly to his comrades. "We're just going to see if everything's under control and nothing's going drastically wrong."

"They're up a clock tower," Demyx stated flatly, bringing up the rear. "I'm pretty sure no one's going to try and mug them up here."

Axel frowned at the Melodious Nocturne. "Shaddup," was all the pyro said.

"The only thing that could go wrong," Larxene sighed, slightly exasperated by now, "is if we keep on going up."

"Then you can stay," Axel proposed, grinning.

"I can't," Larxene retorted. "I'm in the middle." She hauled herself up the ladder still as she said this.

"There's always the option of jumping off," Axel said, managing to shrug as he climbed to the next floor. He looked down at Larxene as she climbed the last stretch. He grinned at her mutinous glare, but suddenly his grin dropped as he realized that he and Larxene were about to be on even ground in a second...

Demyx followed Larxene after she reached the next floor as well, and the musician followed the two over to the next ladder.

"But then again," Axel continued with a smile, "we can always just leave you here."

"May as well," Larxene sneered, "the rats are better company than you."

"According to you," Axel returned, "aren't I a rat anyway?" He turned and flicked her forehead.

The next thing Demyx and Axel knew, an explosion of electricity hit the inside of the clock tower.

* * *

Roxas dangled his legs over the ledge, and Namine wondered how he could do such an act without feeling at least a little bit frightened at the possibility of falling over to go splat. "Come on, Nam," he said to her encouragingly, holding out his hand, "it's relaxing."

Namine looked at his hand thoughtfully. She reached out, about to take his hand, when a rumble shook her feet. "What's happening?" she asked, a panicked edge accompanying her voice.

"Dunno...," Roxas replied, his brow furrowing in thought as he got up. He looked up to see the clock's two hands winding back and forth on the face as if going haywire. Sparks leaped out from behind the clock itself, and Roxas knew that somehow the clock was malfunctioning. Another rumble and Namine stumbled forward to the edge. With the reflex of a cat, Roxas whipped out an arm and securely grasped Namine's arm, pulling her back. Holding the fragile girl in his arms, he yelled, "Whoa! Hold on, Sunset Hill sounds a lot nicer right now for a sunset!"

Namine nodded, trying to laugh at the Key Of Destiny's comment. She was very nearly paralyzed as the image of her plummeting to the ground still flashed in her mind's eye. She had been quite close to falling off, but Roxas had actually saved her. Her chest buzzed warmly at that. Now he encouraged her to move into the portal he had quickly conjured, leading her through it as the tower gonged a loud bell.

"Didn't know it had a bell...," Roxas murmured oddly.

* * *

"Now look what ya've _done!"_ Axel said shortly to Larxene as he poked his head from behind an abandoned food stand, watching the clock regulators inspecting the tower.

"Now look what you've instigated!" Larxene retorted in the same manner. "You could've kept your mouth shut, but _no!_ You had to go and start something!"

"It was a just flick on the forehead!" Axel said, comically exasperated as he sighed loudly.

Larxene slapped his face, toppling the pyro. "And that was just a slap on the face!"

Demyx smiled to himself and shook his head at the two.


	15. Yes, It Counts As Free Food

"That was weird," Roxas murmured as he looked over his shoulder to see the clock tower, which seemed to be going under maintenance problems. "I really didn't see that coming! Sorry, Namine!" he looked apologetically at the girl, his arm around her shoulders in a comforting manner. "You feeling better?"

Namine nodded, indeed recovering from her personal little scare. "Much," she replied, cracking a hopeful smile. "Say, do you have any other plans for today?" she asked politely, turning her head to the side so she could look at the Key Of Destiny.

Roxas cupped his chin. "We could try taking the train, actually," he suggested. "You know, to get to Sunset Hill."

Namine's eyes lit up. "That sounds nice," she agreed. "Where is it?"

"Well," Roxas said slowly, scratching the back of his head, "we have to kinda go back to the clock tower; that's where the train station is."

"Oh," came the short reply. Instantly brightening when she realized they weren't going _to _the clock tower again, Namine said with enthusiasm, "Let's get going, then."

Roxas comically linked his arm with hers and, sending a large smile at the girl, led Namine toward the train station.

* * *

"Are they here yet?" Larxene asked, bored, as she threw the small rubber ball at the alley wall again. Catching it, she drawled, "Maybe their train broke down."

"I'll be skinned alive if I can't find a way to blame _that_ on you," Axel muttered to her.

"Let's skin you then."

Axel huffed as he came around the alley to survey the train station; Roxas and Namine's train hadn't come in yet, and the pyro walked back into the widely spaced alley. Looking around again, he said to his companions, "Sheesh, no one can get mugged in_ these_ alleys! Too wide."

"You can mug anywhere, little one," Larxene taunted, still seated on the ground and tossing the ball again, amused in her game of pass-back with the wall.

"And you would know...?" Axel challenged, a red eyebrow raised.

"Well for one thing," Larxene grinned, "this isn't my ball."

Demyx grinned to himself upon hearing the Nymph's nonchalant retort. So that's why that little kid was crying earlier," he put in.

Larxene turned her head and smirked at him. "Hah," she laughed. "Almost similar to that cliche of taking candy from a baby."

"You probably did that, too," Axel threw in, grinning.

Larxene threw the ball, but not at the wall. She smiled to herself in victory as Axel muttered a slew of curses while he rubbed the back of his head. When he glared at her, she turned her head back, nose in the air.

"Don't have your nose too high," Axel said childishly, "clouds'll fly in your face!"

"Better them then you."

Axel very well would have stomped his feet into the ground at this point, when Demyx tugged at his sleeve. "Might wanna save the temper tantrum for later," the Nocturne warned. "Roxas and Namine are headed this way."

"Their train pulled in?!" Axel whispered, about to poke his head around the alley corner, but Demyx luckily pulled him back.

"Of course," Demyx replied urgently. "But now they're _headed this way_. We gotta hide or something; if they see us Roxas'll be really upset!"

This last part seemed to snap Axel into action; he looked to and fro and finally spotted a large crate that could easily hold at least five people and still have room to move around in. "There!" he whispered, hurrying to the crate. Hauling an unexpecting Larxene up by her hood, Axel shoved her unceremoniously into the crate, pushing Demyx in as well. When all three were secure in the crate, Axel and Demyx watched through the holes in the face of the structure just in time to see Roxas and Namine pass the alley the three were in. The two continued on their way to Sunset Hill. Axel breathed a sigh of relief when they were long gone. "Coast is clear," he said softly. Beside him, Demyx began to fidget, nervously exiting the crate and unwittingly letting the crate close on Axel again.

"Oops," Demyx muttered, trying to pry open the lid, which was somehow refusing to open. "It's stuck or something," Demyx reported, peering back into the crate before remembering why he was so eager to get out of it in the first place. Nervously, he backed up a few paces.

"What's the matter with you?" Axel asked. "At least you're out there." He turned his head at the sound of fingernails scraping on the wood. "Aaaaand," Axel said with humorous finality in his voice, "he left me with the hellcat I just pissed off..."

Thus the said 'hellcat' tore and screeched at the poor man.

* * *

"Hey," Roxas laughed, "there's no need to walk so fast, y'know. Twilight Town's always gonna have that sunset." He smiled as Namine turned back around, blushing in slight embarrassment. "There's no need to hurry," he added softly.

Namine nodded. "Oh, alright," she said quickly. "Then, before we go to Sunset Hill, do you think we can walk around here for a bit? You know, to check out what there is..."

Roxas tilted his head and managed to nod. "Yeah, sure," the young boy agreed. "C'mon, I think there were some concession stands around over there." He pointed to the direction to his left, and Namine followed at his side.

"Roxas," Namine said after a few steps, "what do you think of Twilight Town?"

Roxas looked at her, puzzled. "Well," he began, "hard to say, actually. But I think it's a really peaceful place. A nice retreat from everything else. It's almost like you could lose yourself in this place; it's that cozy." He smiled warmly at her, hoping he had satisfied her question with his answer.

* * *

Demyx parted the bushes with a gloved hand, surveying the lone food stand against the wall, run by only one man. "He's totally alone," Demyx reported, "as in no one or nobody's around."

A scratched Axel made his way beside the Nocturne and observed the prices on the side of the cart. "Aw jeez," he suddenly groaned.

"What?" the curious Demyx asked, looking at the pyro.

"Roxas doesn't have a lot of munny," Axel stated flatly. "He's broke now, after buying those ice creams, and I'll be damned if Namine has secret pockets in that white dress of hers for money."

"Let's damn you, then."

Axel made a face and said, "Cork it, Larxene."

The Savage Nymph rolled her eyes and replied, "In concern to your problem with Roxas being broke and therefore not being able to pay for Namine, watch this." Her mischievous blue eyes danced as she crept forward slightly from the bushes. The Nymph continued grinning like a vixen while she snapped her fingers. Sparks bounced ecstatically from her fingertips over to the man's rear. He let out a startled yelp and jumped away from the sparks, which kept coming toward him, biting his feet and nipping his ankles. Larxene commanded her sparks to keep shocking the man until he eventually sprang forward and dashed away from his food cart.

Larxene wiggled in sadistic satisfaction. "I made him dance for me," she said simply, her grin smug across her face.

"Roxas is coming!" Axel hissed, pulling Larxene back into the bushes, making her topple back.

* * *

"Hey look," Roxas said, curious, as he pointed to the lone food stand. "No one's there." Leading Namine by her hand, he walked up to the food stand. Peering around for several moments turned out to be fruitless, as Roxas realized that it was abandoned. "I guess someone just left it here," the boy murmured aloud. He turned back to Namine. "And I can smell the food; it's real fresh, as if it wasn't left out too long."

Namine tilted her head to the side in light thought.

"Say, want some food, then? If no one's here..."

Namine looked at the food stand. She _was_ getting a little hungry, especially after living through the fright of nearly falling off the clock tower earlier. Besides, it was abandoned, right? Best not let that food go to waste. Shrugging, she said, "Sure."

Roxas smiled and opened the hatch where the food lay securely and neatly inside. "There's hot dogs," Roxas offered. "And there's even some nachos, but you have to put the extra condiments on yourself," he added. "As well as the cheese."

Namine laughed. "But that just leaves the chips," she said.

Roxas smiled at her.

* * *

"Hellcat, hellcat, _hellcat!"_ Axel finally gasped as Roxas and Namine walked away with their food out of earshot. Axel clawed the ground the haul himself out of the bushes to reach Demyx, who had already slunk out and was well away from the other two. Larxene pounced on the pyro's back to leap over his head, therefore landing in front of him. But she didn't attack him like she had a few seconds ago; instead, she turned quietly and smugly sauntered toward where Demyx was. Axel finally reached the two and, dusting himself off, looked to the direction of Sunset Hill. "That's where they'll be going," Axel panted. "And I'll be screwed if we don't get over there, too."

"Let's screw--"

But Larxene caught herself and clamped her mouth shut, her expression changing from sly to mutinous, as she glared at the smirking pyro.

* * *

**A/N: Don't man-handle Larxene, or she'll maim you.**


	16. A Number Three And A Number Fourteen

Roxas threw the remains of the food into the nearby trash can as he and Namine ascended the trail to Sunset Hill. The two talked the whole way up, and Roxas buzzed with warmth when Namine held on to his hand; he enfolded her delicate one in return. "You'll really like the sunset from this view, Namine," Roxas said softly, so as not to disturb the tranquil air all around them. "A highly coveted spot for such an occasion." His smile eased across his face.

Namine ran forward eagerly, nearly dragging Roxas along in her excitement to reach the peak. "We're here, Roxas," she said, a sprinkle of jubilations on her tongue. "Look, Roxas. It _is _beautiful!" she breathed as her eyes drank in the burning sight.

* * *

"Go for it, Roxas," he breathed, peering through the bushes from afar, yet still able to see the boy. "Got get 'er, you little lovesick puppy!" Axel urged again, his hands clenched into fists in anticipation.

Larxene slithered her way delicately through the bushes to his side. "Y'know," she drawled lazily, "if we could command someone to do something just by ordering it the way you're trying to do right now, all of you would be serving me and swearing allegiance to me." Her eyebrows waggled.

Axel huffed at the odd logic. "That's true," he mumbled in agreement. "But _C'MON,_ he has her in his reach now! He could totally grab that kiss!" In a hoarsely loud whisper, Axel said, "Show her your love!"

"Do not want," Larxene said flatly, although knowing Axel wasn't referring to her in particular.

"Maybe he just doesn't want to rush things," the considerate Demyx suggested. "Y'know, not go too fast and waste everything."

"The sweet honey spoils the appetite, true," Larxene concurred, staring through the leafy barrier to Roxas and Namine.

* * *

"Here," Roxas said gently, "go ahead and sit down." He too sat down and patted the ground beside him, smiling up at her. His chest felt like it popped when Namine sat next to him, her head resting idly on his shoulder, sharing the scenery with him. "Despite everything that's uh, happened today, I'm glad you came out with me," Roxas mumbled shyly.

Namine looked to the side and up at him. "Oh?" she said inquisitively. "You know, I'm honestly glad, too. That I came." She smiled warmly and held out her hand, waiting for Roxas to take it. When he did, she encompassed his in her own.

* * *

"Isn't that a cheap shot in some book or another?"

"No, Larxene," Axel sighed, "it's an actual, mutual contact between two who like each other's presence. In other words, it's called _holding hands_."

"I know THAT. But I mean what's Roxas doing?"

Demyx peered through. "I think he's yawning and stretching his arms out..."

"That pimp."

"That's my buddy," Axel said proudly.

* * *

Roxas was indeed stretching his arms, but he was actually yawning; the events of the day and his past endeavors to get Namine's attention had finally piled their weariness on him. He never intended to use that over-cliched move that one sees in a movie theater. Which is why Roxas turned his head and blushed when he realized that his left arm had hung itself gently over Namine's shoulders. The Key Of Destiny was about to take his arm off and apologize, when Namine's hand actually went up and held it in place. She flashed a smile at him before resuming her watch on the breath-taking sunset. Roxas smiled comfortably too, and managed to put his chin on top of her pretty head.

"I'm surprised," Namine mumbled, "that no one's come up yet. Don't the people here come up to see the sunset here, too?"

"Yeah," Roxas answered, "but see, they're so used to the sunset, that they don't come every day to see it. Know what I mean?"

Namine nodded and continued resting her head on his shoulder.

* * *

"Uh, Axel," Demyx whispered with faint alarm, "we got a bit of a problem that may or may not ruin the moment for those two."

"Hm?" Axel mumbled. "Yeah, Larxene's hungry, I know. But it's most likely not gonna endanger Roxas and Namine's date." He resumed watching the two said Nobodies. That is, Until Larxene smacked the back of his head.

"He's talking about those three people walking up the hill, smart one," the Nymph hissed, pointing a finger toward the hill, where indeed a group of young teenagers were walking up to view the sunset as well.

Axel's expression dropped to a blank. "Well we can't have that," he simply said, standing up. Demyx looked to the pyro, wondering what insane plan Axel would come up with this time. "I got a plan..." He slunk around a large rock a little down the hill, lying in wait for the group. Demyx and Larxene were already on either side of him, and Axel flashed them a quick grin before deciding to listen in on their conversation... Apparently the girl's name was Olette... The boy was apparently just a friend... The fat kid liked to eat...

"What should we do?" Demyx whispered as the group drew nearer. His aqua-green eyes lit up then. "How about a Number Seventeen?" The code name was followed by a wicked grin from the Nocturne, as bubbles of water surrounded his hand, which was held up in preparation.

"No, no," Axel whispered hastily, grabbing the musician's hand. In his ear, Axel whispered loudly so that Larxene and not the approaching group could hear, "A Number Three."

"Good one!" Demyx said before slumping into faux submission. Rolling pitifully out of the cover of the rock and into the eyesight of the group, Demyx whimpered pleadingly, "H-Hey! Help! I-I... I'm hurt!" He clutched his leg, emphasizing the presence of pain. He grinned on the inside when he caught the group's attention, as they all rushed over to him.

"Are you okay?!" the girl, Olette, asked frantically, as she examined Demyx all over.

"What happened?" the chubby boy asked, looking generally concerned, chocolate-brown eyes flickering with worry.

The other boy crossed his muscled arms and looked inquisitive as he asked, "Not that often someone just shows up hurt like that..." Demyx could tell the sprinkle of suspicion on the kid's tongue.

"Ankle," Demyx groaned, holding his ankle delicately, "...sprained." When Olette went to touch it, Demyx yelped dramatically.

"Sorry, sorry!" Olette said quickly, retracting her hand in a flash. "How'd you sprain your ankle?" she asked instead.

Demyx shut his eyes tight as he rocked back slightly. "Running after a guy who stole my wallet. I tripped while running down the hill..." The Nocturne whimpered a bit before trying to rub his 'injured' ankle.

Olette's eyes clouded over with compassion. "We can take you to a nearby doctor," she suggested kindly, kneeling in front of the young man. "We were just going to look at the trains from Sunset Hill, so we won't mind. _Right_, boys?" She looked at the other two.

The chubby kid shook his head automatically, while the taller one grunted, albeit a bit grudgingly out of habit. Shrugging, he waved his hand in the air and said, "Eh, whatever. We can always watch the trains go by. C'mon, Pence, you get one side, I'll get the other."

* * *

Axel snickered as the little group walked away with Demyx. "There we go, Rox," he said to himself. "No more interruptions for you!"

"Why are you talking to yourself?"

Axel's shoulders sagged. "Because the only other one here who can communicate language wouldn't _know_ when I was talking to her."

Larxene shrugged, and Axel sighed roughly, grinning sadly at her indifference. "So now what?" she asked suddenly.

"Uh, as in?"

"Do we keep spying on Roxas, or do we keep on keeping watch for others?" Larxene tilted her head.

"I guess," Axel relented. "If we watch for others, it could be more productive than just watching Roxas. Plus it'll give him more privacy with Namine."

Larxene nodded absently. "Then what'll we do if someone shows up? Another Number Three'll seem... suspicious. Suddenly people are showing up with sprained ankles on the same day?" She gave a one-sided smile and shook her head.

Axel cupped his chin. "And besides," he said, "you're not really suited to a Number Three... If someone shows up, you want the Number Fourteen?"

"What's that? I'm not familiar with that one..."

"The one where you pickpocket them and make them realize it without being caught with whatever it was you stole."

Larxene grinned wickedly.

* * *

"Wanna grab a bite to eat?"

Namine looked over to him as they walked down the hill a couple hours later. Come to think of it, she _was_ getting hungry. She smiled sweetly as she replied, "Sure."

Roxas smiled back as he linked his arm with Namine's. "Great!" he said, beaming now. "Zexion once mentioned a great place to dine, and the food is great and everything!"

Suddenly Namine's face frowned in confusion. "But you told me you were broke, back on the hill."

"I was," Roxas confessed. "But then, just as we were about to leave, I turned around and found this really fat wallet just lying there." To prove his statement, he fished out a plump, brown wallet from his coat pocket. "Don't know why I never noticed it before. But now we can have a nice dinner before we head back to the Castle."

Namine tilted her head and smiled, golden hair spilling over her shoulder. "Yeah," she agreed.

* * *

"I love the Number Fourteen," Larxene snickered from her post behind the bushes. Sure enough, a lone man had begun to ascend the hill, but Larxene had made quick operation of Number Fourteen, managing to get the guy to turn around. She had waited, after stealing the wallet, and then approached the man, asking for spare change. When the man had not discovered his wallet, he rushed back the way he had come, and that took care of that. Axel had convinced her to toss the wallet over to Roxas' back, remembering that the boy was still broke, to which Larxene grumbled negatively about.

_"You're_ not the one taking someone out to dinner," Axel reasoned in a scold.

"Why would _I_ take someone out to dinner?" Larxene asked, putting her fingers on her chest in mock confusion. "They should be taking ME out!"

Axel rolled his eyes. "If they even had a chance," he said, "_they'd_ be the ones getting eaten before the main course even showed up."

"They probably had it coming," Larxene stated simply.

"Kingdom Hearts," Axel groaned, "please send Demyx back to us _soon_."

"We're talking about dinner," Larxene grinned, "not Demyx."

"Take me with you!" Axel cried to the sky.

Larxene grinned, loving at how she pricked at Axel's sanity. "The sky's not gonna take you out to dinner."

Axel whirled around nervously. "Uh, 'ey, if I get you a bowl noodles and rice, will you stop driving me up the walls on purpose?" he asked, knowing she was only being like this to him because she was hungry.

"With a dish of meat," she bargained.

"Deal! We'll pick it up and catch up with Roxas!"

"And Demyx?"

"Uh... he'll catch up."


	17. Armed Dunce

Roxas was all warm fuzzies and happy smiles as he pulled out Namine's chair; when she sat down, he took his own seat across from her.

The restaurant wasn't so fancy that young teenagers were looked down upon; rather, many people came here, but perhaps that was because Twilight Town was such a close-knit community... Everyone knew each other, basically. "So," Roxas began casually, "what'll you have?" The boy looked at his own menu, and was instantly torn on what he should get; he loved that meal, but then again he also like that one, too...

Namine was less indecisive than he; she set her menu down and declared, "I'll have this soup right here; it looks real tasty."

Roxas tilted his head over the rim of his menu to look at her. "You sure?" he asked. "I can pay for whatever you want, you know..."

Namine shook her head and sent him a small smile, her eyes glittering with delicate amusement. "It's okay," she said. "I usually don't eat anything heavy, anyway. I prefer eating a light meal."

"Oh, okay," Roxas replied, deciding on something light as well, though he was near starving.

* * *

"Takin' her out to dinner, eh?" Demyx asked now, beside Larxene and Axel. He had managed to give those three kids the slip after they took him to a local doctor; he had allowed the doctor to examine his ankle, but soon the Nocturne learned he would be charged for the check-up. Demyx bolted after the doctor left to go get some papers. "How cute," he cooed playfully.

Larxene gave a noncommittal grunt as she ate through a teriyaki bowl, which was what she ended up getting. After swallowing a mouthful of rice and meat, she said to Demyx, "I still just wanna see them get a kiss out of all this."

Axel gave her a look between humor and confusion. "And why's that?" he asked, half laughing.

"Isn't that why he's taking her everywhere?" she asked simply, as if this were the easiest thing in all the worlds to understand. She took a portion of meat and chewed, waiting for Axel's response.

Axel rolled his eyes. "I knew you'd be less grouchy and evil if you had something to eat," he mumbled, "but I suppose it doesn't make you shut up."

She jab his neck with her chop sticks, to which he choked.

"Back to your question," he gasped, rubbing his neck. _"No_, that's _not _why he's taking her everywhere!" When Larxene raised an incredulous eyebrow, Axel said, "He's doing it because he really likes her!"

"You gotta like someone_ first_ before you kiss 'em?" Larxene asked in mock revelation.

Axel tilted his head. "Well, it doesn't_ always_ go that way."

Demyx rolled his eyes. "Oh, I _know_," he agreed. "I think we _all_ saw that in the open when the three of us and Marluxia saw those group of women trying to get a hold of Zexion, that one time at the ball in Agrabah."

"They didn't even _know_ him," Axel agreed, snickering alongside Larxene at the memory.

* * *

"Oh, here we go," Roxas said as their order came to them now: two steaming bowls of soup, one with vegetables, the other loaded with meat. "Now we can dig in," he said hopefully as he blew into his soup to cool it off.

Suddenly a window smashed, and Roxas, startled, dropped his large spoonful of steaming hot soup into his lap. Crying out in pain, he barely registered that a masked man with a knife was frightening everybody under their tables.

* * *

Larxene elbowed Axel and Demyx sharply in their ribs as the noticed a masked man trying to pry open a window, at the back of the restaurant. "Is that guy trying to break in?" she asked the two.

Axel looked incredulous from his position on the rooftop's edge. "If he is," he relented, "he's doing a pretty crappy job."

"I dunno...," Demyx said, a frown creasing his brow. "Crappy or tactful, an armed burglar can be dangerous all the same..."

"He's armed?" Axel asked, only now noticing the knife in one of the man's hands. "You're right," he said with unease. His senses jolted when the man simply smashed the window with his fists, clambering through and into the restaurant that his best friend was in. Swearing mildly, Axel leaped down from the rooftop, followed closely by Larxene and Demyx.

* * *

"This is a stick-up!" the man rambled, holding up his knife to show everyone he meant business.

Roxas, underneath his table with Namine huddled under his arm and pressing to his side, frowned incredulously. A 'stick-up'? Roxas knew from all those Western tales and burglary stories that it was called 'hold-up'...

The masked stranger trotted hastily to where the cash register was, near the entrance. "Don't try anything!" the man growled to the frightened cashier. "Just throw the munny in this sack!"

"Now?" the young woman squeaked, trembling violently.

"Yes, _now!"_

Hastily, clumsily, the cashier began to take out the munny and dump it into the brown sack as if they were diseases. Roxas pulled Namine closer, wanting to stop the robber, but at the same time not wanting to leave Namine's side. The young teen seemed frightened enough, even with Roxas protecting her.

"Now gimme what I ask for!" the man shouted to the cashier. "And I'm quite sure you know what I want!" he barked as an afterthought.

The woman wore a look of utter dismay. Finally relenting, she burned with shame as she began unbuttoning her waitress outfit.

The man looked affronted. "No, you stupid girl!" he yelled, horrified. "I was talking about _food!"_

Immediately the buttons were buttoned again, and the confused and traumatized waitress flew into the kitchens, ordering multitudes of dishes for the robber.

* * *

"Remember," Axel hissed as he slunk silently through the open door and under a table far out of sight and around a corner, "no one -and I mean _no one_- can see us! Especially Roxas and Namine!"

Demyx nodded, and Larxene grunted quietly, her eyes trained on the robber's back. Then, simply, "He has horrible peripheral vision."

"Excuse me?" Demyx asked, eyebrows knitting together.

Larxene pointed at the man. "He guards his back poorly; he only focuses on one thing at a time; and he's left-handed."

Axel concentrated on the products of Larxene's observation skills, hoping to devise a plan. Finally, his emerald eyes chipped with a fiendish light; motioning Demyx closer, he whispered something into the Nocturne's ears. The young musician nodded and crawled forward a little bit, while still in the safety of the shadows. He twirled his fingers in a certain rhythm, calling forth a stream of water from oblivion. Demyx flashed his fingers forward, toward the robber, and the water slid over and under the man's feet, ready for when it was called to do its duty.

Axel nodded to Larxene now, and the mutual communication spoke through to the Nymph, who snapped her fingers. A spark and crackle of lightning exploded a light on the other side of the restaurant. The robber instantly turned to the sound, and the water beneath him slid this way and that inconspicuously, making the man trip on land painfully on his back, just as Axel snapped his own fingers.

* * *

Roxas kneaded his brow in confusion as the man tripped over seemingly nothing, then leapt right back up, screaming that something had scorched his back. Indeed, the back of his shirt was burned to cinders, and suddenly he slipped yet again. Namine had stopped huddling into Roxas to see the odd spectacle, trembling but intrigued all the same.

"What's going on?" she asked, eyes huge.

"No clue," Roxas breathed honestly.

The young waitress came out, four plates of various meals balanced on her arms. "I got your food," she panted, "just don't kill anybody!" In her frightened mood, the plates were balancing precariously, and when she saw the robber screaming and appearing to rush at her on his hands and knees, she dropped all of the plates when she jumped back to avoid him. The dishes clattered on the robber's head with a loud crash, sauce and food and all.

* * *

"Uh, he ain't gettin' back up," Larxene said flatly after the dishes crashed onto the man's head. Indeed, he wasn't getting back up -to put it grammatically correct- and he just lay there, with the plates broken on top of him.

"I think that chick knocked him out," Axel added, an eyebrow raised. "Funny. All she did was be dumb and then nearly strip. Who'd'a thought SHE would stop the guy?" He chuckled.

"We helped," Larxene growled. "In fact, we did all the dirty work. She only knocked him out because of a fluke." She crossed her arms and seethed quietly.

Demyx smiled at Axel. "I think we're done then. Wanna get out of this place now?"

"Why the rush?" Axel asked. "I wanna see him get busted."

"So do I," Demyx replied, "but that doctor those kids took me to is here now. I'm quite sure he'll recognize me..."

Axel shaped his mouth to an O and slunk through the front doors again, aware of Demyx's nervousness, as well as Larxene's griping about how she wanted to give the man a concussion or, if she was lucky, a coma.

* * *

Roxas looked comically dumbfounded as he saw the whole anomaly with the weird robber, who really didn't do anything at all except disturb their meal. He nudged Namine gently, wondering what she thought of the whole thing; his expression was mirrored in hers. "You wanna just get back to the Castle now?" he asked, hoping to make the atmosphere lighter.

Namine smiled weakly and nodded. "Yeah. There was plenty of excitement today, anyway."

Roxas nodded, gave a one-sided smile, and carefully hoisted her up to leave.

Poo, Roxas had secretly planned to take her to dinner, then walk her along somewhere, where he could snag a kiss with this girl he so innocently liked so much...


	18. Demon Child

Roxas led Namine all the way outside, and the pair began walking toward an alley, where they could portal away in secret. When they reached the alley, Roxas was just about to summon a portal, when they heard humane whimpering somewhere nearby. Puzzled, Roxas and Namine followed the noise, finally coming by an empty dumpster. Namine gasped when she saw who was making the noise.

A young child, probably no more than three years old, was crying and huddled in a ball. "Roxas," the memory witch exclaimed, "I think he's lost!"

Roxas looked over Namine's shoulder, eyebrows raised in astonishment. "I think you're right," he agreed. Bending over to the scared and crying boy, Roxas said, "Hey, little guy. You lost?" _No duh_, Roxas thought, blushing at the stupid question. "Want us to help you find your parents?" His warm smile, along with Namine's, convinced the boy to take Roxas' outstretched hand.

* * *

"Okay," Axel said loftily, clapping his hands. Leaning to look over the rooftop they were all on, Axel said, "I think they went back to the Castle. Now we can--"

"Umm..." Demyx pointed down at the alley the two teens had walked into; the Nocturne, as well as Axel and Larxene, saw Roxas and Namine walking back out, this time with a child.

"That's some FAST reproducing!" Larxene exclaimed breathlessly. "They were only in the alley for a few minutes, and they somehow skipped the whole nine months and then some years to go with it!" She looked to Axel, her blue eyes sparked with masked mischief at her supposed naivete. "The kid even_ looks_ like them!"

Axel barely restrained a laugh. Shaking his head, he said, "Okay, seriously, the kid was probably just lost or something, and they're gonna go and find the parents."

"I still say we should follow them," Demyx suggested.

* * *

Namine asked around, but the child belonged to none of who they asked. However, one person did suggest going to a local park just around the corner; it was a popular haunt for mothers with children, and perhaps one would recognize the child. With Namine in the lead, Roxas followed until they reached a peaceful little park laden with women and children. Roxas was almost overwhelmed at how many people he would have to ask, but Namine's encouraging nod reassured him. The Key Of Destiny led the timid little boy among the throng of people, Namine behind him now.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Namine said politely to a woman on a bench, "but have you any clue as to who this child belongs?" She turned her head, and her expression fell when neither Roxas nor the child were behind her. She and the woman looked toward the playground, where Roxas was tangling himself in the jungle gym to catch the boy, who by now had gotten caught up in the infantile excitement of a playground. Namine shot a nervous glance at the curious mother. "Uh, yeah," Namine said, voice faltering from confidence. "Do you know that child?" When the woman shook her head, the young girl sighed.

Meanwhile, as Namine asked around, Roxas was giving himself quite the workout as he tried to intercept the kid again. "Come back here!" Roxas begged, tripping over a low bar and faceplanting in the sand. "Please!" The child only laughed and ascended the jungle gym again. Groaning, Roxas scrambled back up the bars as well. "Get down here, please!" Roxas panted, nearly reaching the top. "We gotta find your mommy!"

The child sat at the top, smiling from ear to ear, and holding one of his small shoes. "When Roxas reached out to grab the child, the little boy turned his shoe over Roxas' face, and sand poured down onto his face. Roxas cried out in surprise, falling all the way down onto his back. Laughing, the child scrambled back down in haste, somehow losing his shirt in the process as he ran away from Roxas.

* * *

"Two-hundred munny says the kid'll lose his pants next."

"Deal," Demyx replied quickly, slapping Larxene's palm with his own in agreement.

Axel rolled his eyes, still going with his prediction that the kid would lose his other shoe first. "All the same," the pyro rumbled, "it seems that Roxas is having fun." He snickered.

"And so's Namine," Larxene replied with playful sarcasm, watching as the said girl weaved her way among the mothers, still asking around. "You know," Larxene drawled lazily, "Lost his pants."

"Pay up, Axel," Demyx encouraged now, as he and Larxene held out their hands for their winnings. As Axel grumbled and handed over the munny, Demyx grinned happily and chuckled. "Too bad."

* * *

"No, baby!" Roxas cried out. "Don't eat the kids! No biting!"

The rambunctious boy was indeed wrestling, but he was also nipping on the ears and heads of his opponents. Roxas tried pulling the boy off by his feet, but the child had a firm hold with his hands clutching another little boy's head. "Let go!" Roxas begged. "Be nice!"

The child let go and immediately latched upside down to Roxas' leg, giggling and biting. "Aw, come on!" Roxas groaned, jumping up and down. "You must be Larxene's demon child that no one knew about!"

Somewhere in the bushes, the said woman fell backward.

Roxas tried prying off the boy, aware that some of the park visitors were staring and laughing at him. "Let go!" Roxas hissed. "You're making a spectacle of yourself!" _And me!_ Roxas finished.

Suddenly the boy fell down, his face flat in the sand. When he didn't even twitch, Roxas crept forward. "Uh, little baby?"

Instantly the boy flew up and tackled Roxas' face, crying a war cry and clinging on like a rabid baby monkey.

* * *

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Namine said to the agitated woman. "So _you're_ his mother!" Namine took the mother by her hand, while explaining, "My friend and I found him in an alley, crying and scared. So we decided to ask around, eventually coming here, where we asked around yet again. But now that we found you, his mother, everything's all right! I'll just show you to him; he's with my friend right... now..."

Namine and the mother slowed to a stop completely, a few feet in front of Roxas, as the Key Of Destiny tried holding the boy at a safe distance from his face now that he had pried him off. The boy was clawing at the air in front of Roxas' face, and Roxas was afraid that if the boy inched any closer, he would try and eat the former's face again. "Don't eat my face, baby!" Roxas said, helpless to do anything to the kid.

Finally, Roxas felt the boy being lifted from his arms; he opened his eyes to see a woman holding on to her son. Roxas' jaw fell somewhat as he saw the now placid and content boy, who was still half-naked and now looking rather sleepy.

* * *

"Hah," Larxene laughed, "_now_ it's calm." She shook her head, antennae bangs swishing. "I swear," she said now, "I was beginning to think that the kid was dumped off or something. Maybe the parents left him on purpose."

"Larxene," Axel said flatly, "_you'd_ be the one to dump your kid somewhere."

Larxene sniffed disdainfully. "Yeah, sure. You can count on it that I'll _never _have kids!"


	19. The Sock And The Doorknob

Roxas followed Namine with much enthusiasm and haste as they walked out of the park and _well away_ from the child who had probably tried to eat the face of the Key Of Destiny. He went up beside Namine and instinctively took her hand, to which she almost look startled, but her face relaxed instantly when she saw it was only Roxas. "Shall we get going for real, this time?" she asked, a hint of laughter in her voice.

Roxas nodded, grinning. "Yeah, let's just hope that we don't find any more lost children!"

* * *

"Are they going into the alley again?" Demyx asked as he leaped from the bushes, scattering several children nearby. "Let's just hope they're going back this time!"

"And hope," Larxene spat as she looked at the wide-eyed children, "that they don't go about bringing any more kids!"

Axel rolled his eyes. "Can they really help it, Larx? According to Roxas, that was _your_ kid!" The pyro crossed his arms at the startled Nymph. "Hey, it even _looked_ a little like you!"

"Actually, I think it looks more like Roxas," Demyx suggested innocently.

Axel's eyes stretched wide. "All I know is that Larx had a kid and didn't tell us about it! How'd you pull it off?" He leaned forward and poked her forehead.

Larxene only stared steadily at him, mute. "You just didn't pay any attention," she said simply, pivoting on her heel to walk away, with Demyx following in her wake, and the Nymph knew that Axel never saw the triumphant grin on her lips.

* * *

Roxas walked Namine to her room, her hand still in his. The sad moment came when he reached Namine's door. Frowning in a sad-puppy melancholy fashion, Roxas stared at the door and wondered why it couldn't wait to appear, so he could hold Namine's hand just a little longer. "I guess," he said awkwardly, "this is your door..."

Namine giggled, and the sound went straight as an arrow to his chest, warming it. "Yes, it is, Roxas," she said lightly, smiling still. "Would you like to come in for a bit?"

Roxas' eyes danced like fireflies. "Sure!"

Namine frowned suddenly. "But... Marluxia sometimes comes in. You know, to talk to me and sometimes grow flowers in my room. Plus he's the one who gives me new crayons whenever I need them..."

Roxas felt a small twinge of innocent jealousy toward the Graceful Assassin. Shaking it off, he suddenly said, "Wait! I got an idea!" He took off one of his boots, retrieving his sock; capping it over the doorknob, he met Namine's incredulous look. "I don't know, either. But whenever someone sees a sock or a hat on the doorknob, usually they stay away." Shrugging, he added, "That's what Larxene told me."

* * *

_"You told him that?!"_ Axel whispered fiercely to the Nymph; thankfully the pyro had asked the question after Namine and Roxas went into the memory witch's room. _"I hope you didn't tell him WHY they put it on the doorknob!"_

Larxene blinked, unfazed. "I didn't," she reassured. "All I said was that people just stay away whenever they find either a sock or a hat on the doorknob. Of course, other articles of clothing can work, like maybe a tie or something..." As she trailed herself off, Axel slapped his forehead and groaned. Demyx could only stifle his laughter.

"Oh jeez," Axel moaned. "Great, Larxene! He doesn't even know what that MEANS! I certainly hope _you_ don't do that!" Demyx choked and laughed.

Larxene's eyes stretched wide. "I don't bother to hang anything on the doorknob."

It was Axel's turn to choke, not catching Larxene's wicked grin.

* * *

Roxas walked around the room, viewing Namine's drawings on the wall. "I like how you blend in so many colors in your pictures," he commented.

"Oh? Thanks." The girl was sitting at her table, coloring another drawing. "I like to add a lot of color to my drawings; makes a difference among all the white."

Roxas leaned over Namine's shoulder to see what she was coloring; he was delighted at how well she colored the train that went to Sunset Hill back in Twilight Town. He dared to put his chin on the soft spot between her neck and shoulder, his face pressed comfortably to hers. He felt Namine smile, and he returned the warm gesture. "Namine?" he asked shyly.

"Yeah, Roxas?"

"Can we go somewhere again, like how we did today?" Roxas shuffled his feet nervously.

"Um... sure," she answered sheepishly, a tint of red coming across her cheeks. "I'd like that. Thanks, Roxas."

"Thank _you_, Namine." Roxas allowed the butterflies in his stomach to settle as the comfortable silence ensued again. Suddenly, as a new thought entered Roxas' head, the butterflies started again, this time with a new fervency. The question stuck to the tip of his tongue as Roxas opened his mouth, unwilling to go out for fear of its purpose being denied. Roxas pushed on, though, in his internal warfare and indecision, and dared to ask. "Namine?" he choked.

"Yeah?" Namine could sense the utter seriousness and importance of what Roxas was about to ask. Her sapphirine eyes were open and welcoming.

"Can I... Can I kiss you...?"

* * *

Larxene, Axel, and Demyx, their ears pressed close to the door, all heard the conversation, as well as Roxas' last question. "Go for it, little guy!" Axel whispered hoarsely, meaning to punching the air in triumph, but hitting Demyx's chin instead. The Nocturne managed to keep his cry in, but his eyes watered in pain as he glared at the pyro, who shrugged apologetically. "Whoops..."

"Is he gonna kiss her?" Larxene asked herself and the others. "She hasn't replied yet!"

The three pressed their ears to the door again, not noticing Marluxia coming up. "Axel, Larxene, Demyx? What are you two do--" His blue eyes caught the sock on the doorknob. _"Oh, Kingdom Hearts, you guys are sick perverts!" _He looked at each of their startled faces in turn. _"You guys all need to get laid if you're doing that!" _

"Whoa, wait, it's not what it looks like!" Larxene squeaked frantically.

"That's what _she_ said...," Axel grumbled, to which Larxene slapped his head for.

* * *

Namine could only stare at Roxas, oblivious to the quiet commotion outside her door; she was only aware of the boy in front of her. "You... You mean it...?" she breathed. When Roxas' eyes glittered with his answer, she shakily stood up. Roxas put his hands in hers and Namine tentatively leaned forward with him.

Suddenly the door was kicked open, and an outraged Larxene, dragging a confused Marluxia, approached them, Axel and Demyx looking around the corner and into the room. "See?!" the Nymph cried to Marluxia. "They're not doing anything that was in your sick mind! I have proved my innocence!" She shoved Marluxia down and stomped over to Namine and Roxas. "And _you two_ get it over with and back me up!"

Before either of the teens could react, Larxene grabbed the backs of their heads and shoved their lips together. Stomping off and muttering strings of terribly obscene curses, she stormed out.

That left the three older males to stare at the younger two, who remained stone-stiff. Marluxia, blushing at his intrusion, scrambled up and fled the room, dragging Demyx and Axel with him. The pyro managed to shut the door behind him.

Roxas was frozen solid, but his blood was rushing with warm fuzzies as he held Namine's hands, his lips still on hers. He certainly didn't expect the kiss to go like _this_...

But all that washed away, like the tide sweeping the shoreline, as Namine began to respond with her own lips.


	20. Roxas' First Kiss And Axel's Last Shot

**A/N: Yeah, forgot to mention: this is the last chapter. But thanks to all of you who reviewed and/or read this story. I honestly enjoyed writing the whole thing, since you guys enjoyed it so much. Made it all worthwhile. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy the last chapter of "Attention Seeker"!**

* * *

Roxas' eyes stretched wide as Namine pressed her lips against his own a bit more; before he knew it, he seemed to be moving as if in a dazed trance. His hands were placed just on her waist, and Namine cautiously wrapped her arms around his neck. Everything seemed... perfect, just being like this; as if they were meant to mold their souls together, sealing that compact with this one beautiful lock. Roxas revelled in the solitude of the moment, rejoiced that Namine fit so perfectly in his arms, loved the fact that Namine enjoyed this as much as he did.

Roxas finally gave in to the need for air as he slowly pulled away, his blue eyes looking fondly at Namine. Their hands were still entwined when they heard a familiar mewling noise. Namine led Roxas over to her kitten, while saying, "I can't change her name now, you know."

"Why's that?" Roxas asked, though somehow already knowing the answer.

Namine giggled. "Because she already responds to 'carne asada'."

Roxas groaned comically, eyeing the little bundle of fur as she leaped and bounced on the large table, chasing imaginary butterflies. "Carne Asada it is, then. So long as no one _makes _her into carne asada." Roxas laughed when Namine did the same, and the two teens sat on the table next to each other, bodies warming at each other's touch. "Say, Namine," Roxas asked, "I honestly can't help but worry about Carne Asada..."

Namine nodded sadly. "I know what you mean," she replied. "Especially when she can get stepped on--"

"Or eaten," Roxas added, thinking once again of Saix.

Namine nodded. "Or lost, even..." She cast a sad but resolved look at Roxas. "This world is no world for a kitten. You understand where I'm getting at?"

Roxas nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I do. Wanna take her back to the pet shop with me? That's where we got her from, before she ran off, heh." He honestly didn't feel bad at all that his gift was being returned; he _did _sympathize with the little creature if it had to live here. With Saix.

"Yeah, I do," Namine answered, in response to his question.

Roxas, suddenly, had another idea. "Better yet," he proposed, "Axel can take her back. I know he won't mind..."

Namine nodded. "Okay, I guess."

Roxas smiled and encompassed her hand in his own, bringing it up to his face. Roxas felt more confident with himself, leaning forward a bit. Namine willingly closed the gap, and the two let the world melt away to reveal their mutual silence and escapism, while time eroded and oblivion became worthwhile.

Roxas' chest buzzed, knowing that he now had _more _than just her attention.

* * *

Axel grumbled as he held the bundle inside his coat pocket. He knew there was no return policy, so of course he would have to sneak the kitten back in, drop it off, and go back to the Castle. As he walked in, the kitten made no sound, and the only thing that was heard was the tinkling of the bell above the door. The man -the one who had ditched Axel and Roxas for that date- looked up at from a magazine.

Nodding to the cashier, Axel slunk through the aisles, finding the little kennels that contained the kittens. That black kitten that had been Carne Asada's littermate was gone, but in the next kennel there was a new litter of kittens. Axel lifted the hatches and carefully dropped Carne Asada inside, where she already towered over the others. "Be good, Carne Asada," Axel said fleetingly. "And don't eat anybody, okay? And stay away from blue-haired men with X-shaped scars on their faces."

Axel turned to leave after bidding his farewell to Carne Asada, coming up to the front of the store. He froze in his tracks when he saw the same woman from his last visit here. She noticed him, and her face hardened.

Axel smiled weakly and walked forward; Roxas wasn't here to ruin things on purpose this time...

"Hey there... again," Axel said, confident on the inside, though he appeared guilty and a tad shy on the outside; he loved his ability to act. "Listen, ah... Sorry about what happened last time we met..."

She sniffed disdainfully. "Where's your _girlfriend?"_ she bit.

Apparently she remembered that lie that Roxas had spun. Looking down, he said, "She dumped me a while ago. Left me for another woman." He mentally slapped himself; him, dumped? For another woman? It's the impossibility of it that made it possible, though...

The woman gave a start. "Oh," she said awkwardly. "I see..." She let Axel rest his chin on the counter, and he looked so dejected and heartbroken, that she found her hands stroking his spiky hair, which she found to be surprisingly soft. "You gonna be okay...?"

Axel's green eyes flicked up to her. "Does it_ look_ like I'll be okay anytime soon?" he retorted dully. He sighed roughly, his arms on the counter now as well. "It hurts at night, too," he said wistfully. "Knowing that she's not in my arms anymore; knowing that she's with some other person, content. I feel like crap; was I not good enough or something?"

The woman, ever the sympathetic one, cupped his face. "No no no! That's not it! She just has her preferences! You can't blame yourself for that! She just wasn't the one for you!"

Axel sniffed. "Then who is?" he asked, letting the creep of a wail into his voice.

"I don't know the answer to that," the woman answered, her cheeks flushing, "but for all you know, she could be right under your nose!"

Axel looked up at that. _"You're _right under my nose...," he said slowly, letting his face appear as if he were dawning on a new light of realization. His eyes pleaded with hers, and the young woman let him whisper in her ear. He made her blush furiously, and the clever pyromancer trailed kisses along her jawline, pressing one onto her cheek.

_Oh yeah,_ Axel thought smugly. _I'm so good. _The Casanova was just about to claim her lips when he heard an all-too-familiar voice...

"Axel, dear, what are you trying to do to that innocent girl?"

Axel froze, like a child caught in the act of stealing cookies. Finally turning around, he didn't know who to strangle: himself, or Larxene, who was grinning maliciously in triumph.

"Uh... Can I help you...?" the confused woman asked, still blushing.

"You can, indeed," Larxene said, eyes glittering mischievously, though only Axel saw that light. "I'd like you to help me clarify what he was doing to do you."

The woman seemed caught off-guard. "Uh... Who are you?"

"I'm his girlfriend."

Axel's eyes widened in an expression that said: _No, you're not, you liar! You're just saying that to get me in trouble! _Before one could contemplate on what kind of face that was, the woman cried out in indignation. "AGAIN?!" she demanded. _"You said she dumped you for another woman!"_

Larxene didn't seemed surprised at all; in fact, she was examining her gloved nails as she drawled, "Oh, he uses that excuse all the time whenever he flirts, just so you know."

"Ah, now now," Axel tried saying, but then grumbling, _"I'm gonna kill you Larxene..."_

And yet, before he knew it, Axel was chased out by the twice-over deceived cashier by means of a tazer. Larxene followed shortly after, waltzing out as if she owned the store, whistling.

* * *

On a happier note, Roxas and Namine were sitting atop the clock tower of Twilight Town the next day. Hand in hand, the two were planning for their next date. And although Namine felt she was becoming less afraid of heights now, thanks to Roxas, she secretly hoped that they wouldn't be doing anything like skydiving.

After all, she had done enough 'falling' for her lifetime.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed!**

**xFirebloom**


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